PCSAS

ACCREDITATION PRINCIPLES & MODEL

Eligibility Standards:

PCSAS accreditation is optional and voluntary. Programs do not derive any automatic or exclusive benefits from PCSAS accreditation, although they may experience indirect benefits from publicizing their accreditation status. Programs initiate the accreditation process by submitting a notice of interest to determine eligibility. This notice is to be accompanied by an "initiation" fee. Assuming they are deemed eligible, they then need to submit the required application materials, pay the associated "application" fee, and host a site visit prior to being evaluated by the Review Committee and receiving a decision.

Only doctoral programs in psychological clinical science that grant Ph.D. degrees and that are integral units within non-profit, research-intensive universities are eligible to apply for PCSAS accreditation. Programs with a chief mission of training psychologists for specialized careers in applied clinical work—no matter how science-based such applied training may be—are not appropriate candidates for PCSAS accreditation.

The purpose of PCSAS accreditation is to recognize and promote high-quality, science-centered education and training in clinical psychology. Therefore, eligible applicants will be programs with a chief mission of preparing graduates for careers as clinical scientists—i.e., for careers devoted to making significant contributions to both advancing and applying scientific knowledge regarding the nature, origins, prediction, assessment, prevention, and amelioration of psychopathology and health-compromising behaviors.

To be eligible for PCSAS accreditation, an applicant program must demonstrate a strong commitment to high-quality science-centered education and training in clinical psychology, with an emphasis on integrating research and application. This commitment must be articulated explicitly in the program's documents, public disclosures, and web site; must be operationalized through a coherent educational plan, curriculum, and allocation of resources; and must be demonstrated in the activities and accomplishments of the program's faculty, students, and graduates.

Review Committee Model:

PCSAS's approach to reviewing applications is modeled after the grant review panels at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. RC decisions are based on the summative qualitative judgments of the nine RC members regarding each applicant's overall quality and outcome record. Each application is assigned a primary, secondary, and tertiary reviewer. Assigned reviewers are expected to prepare and distribute preliminary evaluations prior to the RC meeting. A reviewer also may serve as a site visitor to the program. All RC members are expected to become familiar with the materials for all applicant programs, not only those assigned to them. Designated reviewers begin the committee's deliberations on each applicant by presenting their summary findings. Then the full committee discusses the program's perceived strengths and weaknesses. Finally, each RC member independently assigns a qualitative evaluation to the application and recommends a specific decision. RC members are expected to use a standard scale to anchor their evaluations, rather than making comparative evaluations based on a specific set of applications.

All eligible programs will claim to provide their students with high-quality doctoral education and training in scientific clinical psychology. But aspirational claims and rational plans for achieving these aspirations—while necessary—are not sufficient grounds for PCSAS accreditation. To be accredited, a program must document that it actually delivers on these promises. PCSAS's imprimatur represents a public trust; it is the public's assurance that PCSAS-accredited programs abide by the principle of "truth in advertising." That is, the RC must ensure not only that all PCSAS-accredited programs have admirable goals, coherent plans, and sound resources, but, above all, that they also have produced results that live up to their claims and to PCSAS's standards.

To earn the PCSAS imprimatur, therefore, an applicant program must provide clear evidence of a consistent record of graduating clinical scientists—i.e., individuals who have made meaningful contributions to basic and applied research relevant to mental and behavioral health problems, or who have used their scientific knowledge and skills to design, develop, select, evaluate, deliver, supervise, and disseminate empirically supported assessments, interventions, and prevention strategies. Such outcome evidence is the sine qua non of PCSAS accreditation and will carry the greatest weight in the RC's qualitative evaluations of, and ultimate decisions regarding, applicant programs. In general, graduates from PCSAS-accredited programs will be fully qualified as independent clinical psychologists. Whereas some graduates of clinical science programs may pursue careers devoted primarily to practice, the programs judged to be of highest quality will be those that demonstrate convincingly that the majority of their students contribute significantly to advancing scientific knowledge.