Northcentral University becomes first mostly-online program to earn COAMFTE accreditation

Their masters program uses practicum site supervisors as co-instructors, meeting COAMFTE’s requirement for in-person education.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Books-aj.svg aj ashton 01The Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education announced just before the holiday that Northcentral University, one of five online programs (or in their case, mostly-online programs) I discussed in this recent post, has become the first such program to earn COAMFTE accreditation. (Here’s why COAMFTE accreditation matters to students.)

As I mentioned previously, they appear to use practicum site supervisors as co-instructors for the practicum class, thus meeting the COAMFTE requirement (page 8) that at least some instruction in any accredited program be provided in person.

This is a milestone for graduate education in MFT, though I will confess I am not quite sure what meaning to put to it. That’s a longer discussion I’ll put in another post. For now, my hearty congratulations to the faculty, staff and students at Northcentral for a significant achievement!

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In the interest of full disclosure, I have served in the past as a COAMFTE Site Visitor, but I had no involvement with the accreditation process for Northcentral and have no affiliation with that university.

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