Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE)

What is CAATE?

The Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) is a non-profit association headquartered in the State of Texas. It is approved by the Council of Higher Education (CHEA).

CAATE provides accreditation for Professional, Post-Professional and Residency Programs in Athletic Training Education after evaluating these educational programs with the established standards.

The Commission aims to enhance health care practices for the betterment of the general public and professionals in the field through improvement of AT Education.

Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education source - pinterest.com

Standards of CAATE accreditation

The Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) has established two categories of standards for accreditation. One is the Compliance Standards which include the minimum requirements that must be met by the programs seeking accreditation. The accreditation status is granted based on these compliance standards.

The Adaptive Standards include the word should and are evaluated only when the Commission feels that the program needs to be assessed against these standards.

The basic eligibility requirements for seeking CAATE accreditation is given here.

The foundation must be certified by the United States Department of Education or approved by the Council of Higher Education Accreditation.
It must be regionally accredited or approved to provide post-secondary training.
CAATE certified proficient programs must award a professional degree in Athletic Training.
Program Director ought to be a full-time workforce and must have full staff status, specialists, and obligations.
The faculty resources ought to be delegated and be learned of the course content, have aptitudes, and capacities.
Adequate faculty and staff based on the student enrollment in the AT education programs.
Foundational and professional knowledge in athletic training must be imparted to the students for the attainment of better health care practices.
The institution must have a centered mission and accessible resources to achieve the same.
The institution must exhibit honesty and integrity in matters pertaining to athletic training.

CAATE

source - adobe stock

Process for CAATE accreditation

CAATE is responsible for defining, assessing, and maintaining educational Athletic Training programs. The process of accreditation adopted is rigorous and is given as follows.

The programs must submit an application via E-Accreditation and pay the required fees, for instance, the fees for 2019-2020 accreditation for professional AT programs is $1,500.
The program is required to submit a self-study to begin the accreditation process.
A site visit is scheduled based on the self-study report.
Submission of self-study and completion of site-visit do not guarantee accreditation.
A site visit report is prepared and the program is reviewed to assess whether it meets the comprehensive standards or not.
In case the program meets the benchmark, it is granted accreditation. An institution should not identify itself to be CAATE accredited unless it receives a formal accreditation status.
Via an annual and comprehensive review process, CAATE evaluates the program's compliance with the standards.

Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education logo

source - caate.org

Guiding Values of CAATE

The Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education aims to achieve accreditation excellence in athletic training education and enhance clinical practice.

Following are some of the values imbibed by the commission to keep up with its vision.

Accountability - The commission is accountable for all decisions regarding accreditation status. It receives complaints against all matters pertaining to compliance with standards.
Transparency - The commission ensures that information related to policies and procedures is made available to the public.
Integrity and Excellence - It strives towards achieving excellence in accreditation of AT programs and works to improve the educational quality imparted in these study areas.
Collaboration - CAATE works in collaboration with other certifying agencies and organizations to achieve excellence across the continuum of AT Education, for instance, CAATE partnered with Liasion International to launch a service called ATCAS.

[Also Read: What is Accreditation in Colleges and Universities? ]

Decision-making bodies of CAATE

The Commission, the Committees, and the Staff work together for the attainment of high educational quality and professionalism in Athletic Training.

The decision making groups are as follows.

Commission

The prime leadership Commission consists of 12 members which are responsible for all the decisions regarding accreditation status.

The Commission consists of the President, the President-Elect, a Treasurer, 5 Athletic trainer members, Administrative member, AAP Representative, Physician, and AAFP Representative. Besides the prime members, there are other members and working groups such as the Office Staff.

The Commission has the final authority for all activities and actions of the CAATE.

Committees

In addition to the members of the commission and the office staff, there are members from various committees, groups and site visitors that make recommendations and offer guidance to the commission.

The Standing Committee includes the Review Committee, Ethics & Professional Standards Committee, Quality assurance Committee, Standards Committee, and the Quality Assurance Committee.

The Ad-Hoc Committee is the nominating committee which is convened to elect candidates to CAATE.

CAATE decision making bodies source - adobe stock

Universities under CAATE accreditation

CAATE is responsible for granting accreditation status to Athletic Training Programs which meet the benchmark and standards.

Here is a list of a few universities that are accredited by CAATE.

List of CAATE accredited institutions
Ashland University	Boston University
California State University - Northridge	Drake University
Liberty University	Michigan State University

Conclusion

The Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) has tried to improve the standards of training given in Athletic Education.

The training institutes go through the rigorous process of accreditation set by CAATE, which assures that the quality of educational training provided in these institutes is on par with the standards set by the Commission.

As the agency targets professional, post-professional, and residency athletic training programs, the students can trust these programs as they follow the standards for quality.