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AOA reinforces degree standards in light of Tusculum’s denied accreditation
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The AOA is speaking out on standards of education for optometric degree programs, resulting from a concerning report on graduation rates from the National Board of Examiners in Optometry and Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry, and a trend in proposed schools of optometry.
In January, the National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO) and Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) released the 2016-17 academic year pass rates for the national licensing exam, reporting that several programs lagged below 90% and two programs had less than 75%.
In June, Tusculum University’s proposed addition of an optometric degree program was denied by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, citing the lack of an acceptable business plan and supporting documentation, according to the American Optometric Association.
The AOA sent a letter to the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE), regarding the concerning report and the potential increase in schools of optometry.
“[Tusculum] is the fourth new school recently proposed in the same part of the southeastern U.S., and this development again brings to the fore ... the ability of schools of optometry to continue to attract enough qualified faculty and students, and to provide adequate clinical opportunities to students when so many programs are clustered in one relatively lightly populated area,” Samuel D. Pierce, OD, AOA president, wrote in the letter.
Pierce highlighted some of the central issues to this debate, in an interview with Primary Care Optometry News.
“At a time of rapid change, the AOA and state associations are safeguarding optometry’s hard-won independence, our physician status and our essential and expanding role in the health care system,” Pierce said. “Highly respected educational standards are at the heart of our profession’s clinical and practice excellence and a foundation for continued advancement, and every colleague can be advocating with us.”
To get involved, optometrists can join their state association and the AOA, he said.
“We are leading the effort to safeguard the profession’s education standards,” Pierce said. “In fact, with anti-optometry special interests actively trying to gain greater influence over our practices and our institutions, AOA and state association membership is more important than ever.”
Pierce added that, “in our view, [a university that proposes optometric education] should be aware of the standards currently in existence, and probably of trends in higher education accreditation as well, so they can have some idea of what standards they will likely be required to adhere to in the future.“
All existing and proposed optometry programs must meet and consistently adhere to accreditation requirements enforced by the independently developed ACOE, he said.
“The AOA has supported increasingly strong, up-to-date and clinically-focused standards as well as an appropriately rigorous accreditation process and will continue to do so in order to protect the profession and the public,” Pierce concluded. “No one can predict the future, but we anticipate that accreditation standards will become more exacting as the scope of practice in the profession continues to expand and develop.” – by Abigail Sutton
Disclosure: Pierce is president of the AOA and assumed his role in June 2018.