Accreditation: dispelling the myths.

Accreditation is a major issue in allied health education. This article explores the purposes of accreditation and eight myths about nongovernmental programmatic accreditation. These myths focus on professional society control versus accountability to the general public and student consumer, the method of national standard setting versus statewide accrediting, credibility of the process, the conduct of the process by volunteers, costs of accreditation, and the role of paid accreditation staff. Appropriate US Department of Education criteria and Council on Postsecondary Accreditation provisions that affect these areas are included.