What Is An Accreditation Process Workshop?
October 15, 2019
One thing we have at ACA, New England is a lot of terms. ACA, APG, AAR, APW, etc. And those are just the ones that begin with ‘A’! We’d like to take a few minutes to talk about the APW, the Accreditation Process Workshop. For many years we have held a course that camps interested in Accreditation would attend – called the Standards Course. Last year the course was re-branded as the APW.
For a camp thinking about Accreditation, this course is their first step into the world of ACA Accreditation. The course covers the most common questions about Accreditation – What is a visit? What is a standard? Where are all the standards written? How do I know what I need for my visit? Who comes to my camp? When do they come? How do I prepare? What about the activities we offer at our camp, do you look at those as well? What about our lake, our sailboats and our pool? How often does someone come out to camp? What happens in those summers where we are not having a site visit?
The course answers all these questions and more!
There can be a lot to know and manage for a camp preparing to be accredited. This course helps to break it all down into manageable pieces. The course is designed for camps to know who to ask for help, and where to go for help.
These courses are taught be volunteer instructors – ACA, New England could not offer the wide range of programs without these amazing volunteers!
Some of our most common questions:
What kinds of camps are accredited?
ALL Kinds of camps can choose to be accredited. Day Camp, Overnight Camps, Specialty camps, Camps that operate on a college campus, camps that do not have a base site…all of these kinds of camps have a place in the accreditation process.
What is the number one reason a camp will fail when going to Accreditation?
Written Documentation. It is the most common thing that comes up for a camp We work with some amazing camps at ACA, New England. Some of them just did not have a policy in writing.
We are already Accredited – is this still the course I should take?
Yes, this is a great way for camps to find out about updates and changes to the scoring since your last visit.