At the ATS Biennial Meeting in Denver in June 2018, the membership unanimously authorized the Board of Commissioners to undertake a comprehensive redevelopment of the Commission's Standards and Policies and Procedures--the first major revision in more than twenty years. To lead the two-year process, the Board appointed a 19-member task force (see picture below).

During the first year (2018-2019) of the redevelopment process, the task force engaged a dozen working groups with 100 members, listened to fifty focus groups involving 600 members, and collected and analyzed more than 1,100 member comments. During the second year (2019-2020), the task force reflected on all that membership input to write numerous internal drafts that led to two public drafts, released respectively in December 2019 and February 2020. Those two public drafts drew more than 500 member comments that informed the documents approved by the membership in June 2020.

Throughout the process, the task force kept the membership informed of its work through a regularly-updated page on the ATS website, more than two dozen progress reports in Colloquy Online, and presentations at most ATS meetings and events. Commission staff liaisons were also in contact with their schools and evaluation committee members regarding progress on the redevelopment , including presentations at the Self-Study Workshop and the School for Peer Reviewers.

For a history of the Commission's accreditation standards, see this article from 2018.

Redevelopment Task Force

Redevelopment Task Force Members:
Back row: Frank Yamada, Lester Ruiz, Vergel Lattimore III, Rene Espinoza, Arch Wong, Stephen Graham, Barbara Mutch, Harry Gardner, Tite Tienou, Peter Vaccari
Middle row: Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, Mary McCormick, Valerie Rempel, Debbie Creamer, Mitzi Budde, Betty Holley
Front row: Oliver McMahan (vice chair), Sarah Drummond (chair), Tom Tanner (staff liaison)

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