CE Standards Background

Background and Purpose 

The current CEB Requirements were established to provide guidance on best practices in continuing education for ASHA CE Providers. Since their initial publication, revisions and additions have been made as new issues and processes for developing and managing continuing education programs emerged; however, a full-scale revision has not occurred since 2006. The ongoing revisions have led to best practice standards with operational or administrative activities (such as deadlines) mixed in, as well as redundancies between CEB Requirements.

ASHA CE staff identified a model created by the International Academy for CPD Accreditation (IACPDA) to use as a framework for the revised standards. The IACPDA released the Standards for Substantive Equivalency between CPD/CME Accreditation Systems in 2020 to establish guidelines for continuing professional development and continuing medical education accreditors. ASHA CE adopted this framework because these updated standards (1) reflect best practices in continuing education for health care professionals; (2) are based on a current review of the literature and feedback from a wide range of continuing education professionals; and (3) are presented in a clear, concise manner. In addition, adopting this framework and including aspects of these standards supports the CEB’s goal to align with other continuing education accreditors, where possible, and reduce burdens to those ASHA CE Providers who may be accredited by other organizations.

Development and Revision/Review Process 

The revised CE Standards (a name change from “Requirements”) are based on a review of current literature about best practices in continuing education, a scan of standards used by other continuing education accreditors, and stakeholder feedback—including a select group of ASHA CE Administrators, select ASHA staff, and the CEB.

The revisions were created with two goals in mind:

1. Streamline, clarify, and update the standards so that they remain relevant and meaningful to ASHA CE Providers and the learners whom they serve. 
2. Develop flexible standards that can adapt to an evolving continuing education environment. 

As part of the review, ASHA CE staff identified those items in the current CEB Requirements that reflected operational or administrative tasks and separated them from standards that support the development of quality continuing education. These operational/administrative items (such as deadlines, cancellation and refund policies, etc.), which remain an integral part of the CE Provider’s responsibilities, were pulled aside for later conversations about developing a companion resource.

In the final stage, a subcommittee of the CEB was established. The subcommittee members were charged with finalizing revisions to the proposed CEB Standards, preparing the proposed CEB Standards for the call-for-comments survey, reviewing and responding to the comments after they come in, and presenting a final version to the full CEB for approval.   

A select call for comments was conducted to engage specific stakeholders and to ensure that the call-for-comments survey is clear and complete. This was followed by a widespread call for comments that allowed all interested parties to provide feedback for the CEB subcommittee members to consider.

Approval and Next Steps

The subcommittee finalized the Standards and presented them to the full CE Board in October 2022. The Standards were approved to replace the CEB Requirements by unanimous vote.

Following completion of the CE Standards, ASHA CE staff turned their focus to the operational and administrative tasks that were pulled out of the CEB Requirements. These items have been incorporated into ASHA CE Policies that support the CE Standards. Once finalized, these CE Policies will be published, along with resources and guidance.

Stay tuned for more information about the plan for transition from the CEB Requirements to the ASHA CE Standards and Policies.