Published: July 05, 2008 02:50 pm      

DAC awarded candidate status from QA council

The Commission Executive Committee of the Council on Occupational Education has awarded Candidate for Accreditation status to the Defense Ammunition Center’s Training Directorate located at McAlester.

The Council on Occupational Education, based in Atlanta, offers quality assurance services to postsecondary workforce education providers across the nation. The non-profit corporation’s mission is to assure quality and integrity in career and technical education. COE services include: institutional accreditation, program quality reviews for states and workforce education providers, and informational services.

DAC is currently in the pre-accreditation status, which is granted to institutions actively seeking accreditation by the Commission of the Council.

Candidate institutions must complete a self-study based on the standards, criteria, and conditions of the Commission and host a visiting team before it is reviewed for initial accreditation.

The purpose of the self-study is to examine DAC’s qualifications for accreditation through a comprehensive self-evaluation conducted by our personnel,” said Sally Riggins, chief of the HAZMAT Training Division.

COE provides guidelines for a self-study in a manual that organizations are expected to use in planning, conducting, and reporting their self-study. The eleven standards and specific criteria addressed in a self-study include the following: institutional mission, educational programs, program and institutional outcomes, strategic planning, learning resources, physical resources, financial resources, human resources, organizational structure, student services and activities, and distance education.

Institutional membership in the COE is voluntary, but can be achieved only by becoming accredited. Members include postsecondary public technical colleges, specialized military and national defense institutions, Job Corps Centers, private career institutions, non-profit workforce education providers, corporate and industry education units and federal agency institutions. Currently there are over 400 institutional members.

DAC’s Training Directorate provides ammunition-related training to over 35,000 military and civilian students annually, and offers a variety of training through on-site mobile training teams, accredited off-campus instruction facilities, and distance learning products. One of the directorate’s main missions is to provide training for the Quality Assurance Specialist Ammunition Surveillance, the Army’s oldest career program, and the Ammunition Managers career program. Combined, these career programs provide more than 1,000 qualified civilian employees who provide on-site ammunition expertise to warfighters.

The information in this article was provided by theDefense Ammunition Center which is soley responsible for its content.