The Committee on Technical and Career Institutions (CTCI) accredits member institutions to assure the public about the quality of a particular institution and to enter into a partnership with it for its self-improvement. Accreditation is achieved by applying the Committee's Standards of Accreditation through a deliberate process of voluntary self-regulation and peer review, including institutional self-study and evaluation, accompanied by Committee examination and analysis leading to accreditation at the institutional level.
Accreditation is a voluntary undertaking by an educational institution. As such, the value is intrinsic. The benefit is in the doing - in the exercise of conducting an in-depth self-reflective analysis of one’s center or school based upon the Standards of Accreditation.
The validity of the self-study process is justified by a team of volunteer peer reviewers representing career and technical institutions from throughout New England who visit the school or center for three and one-half days (decennial visit) or for two and one-half days (five year focus visit). The Visiting Team looks to validate the school or center’s self-study report through direct observation of its practices and through interviews with key constituents (students, teachers, administrators, parents, community representatives, business partners). The Visiting Team Report will include detailed analysis of each academic and technical program, as well as an analysis of the school or center’s practices relative to the standards. It is vitally important to note the formative nature of the team’s visit and report. The peer evaluators function as “critical friends” who provide commendations and recommendations that assist the institution’s improvement process.
The Committee’s evaluation and accreditation activities are directed to secondary and postsecondary institutions whose mission is career and technical in nature. Geographically, the Committee limits its scope to institutions in the New England States; the Committee sets no international limits. At the postsecondary level, non-degree granting institutions are currently included in the Committee’s scope. In 2003, all degree-granting postsecondary institutions accredited by CTCI began a transition to the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE). That process was completed in December 2008.