The Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions (COAPRT)

STANDARDS for Bachelor of Science in Recreation at SJSU with concentrations in Recreation Management and Recreation Therapy.

The Recreation Program's annual evaluations is available here:

https://accreditationcouncil.org/Portals/0/DirectoryAnnualReports/San_Jose_State_University_2021_Annual_Report_R.pdf. 

COAPRT Accreditation Renewal Notification

Foundations

Includes the background, nature, and scope of the profession, including its history, philosophy, and social and behavioral science underpinnings.

7.01   Students graduating from the program shall demonstrate knowledge of the scope of the profession, professional practice, and the historical, scientific, and philosophical foundations of the relevant recreation, park resources, leisure experiences, or human service industries.

 

Provision of Services and Experiences for the public, guests, visitors, and clients:

Provision of services and experience opportunities for guests, visitors, participants, clients, or other constituent groups. The provision of service and experience opportunities includes, but is not limited to recreation programming and leadership, heritage and environmental interpretation, site design and management, experience design, and related processes.

7.02   Students graduating from the Program shall demonstrate the ability to design, implement, and evaluate recreation, park resources, leisure, and human service offerings facilitating targeted human experiences and that embrace personal and cultural dimensions of diversity.

 

Management/Administration

This dimension refers to both operations management/administration and strategic management/administration. Operations management/administration includes planning, organizing, staffing, directing, leading, controlling, reporting, finance, resource acquisition, marketing, and critical thinking. Strategic management/administration refers to processes that managers in parks, recreation, tourism and related professions use to optimize the success of the organization within the external systems in which their organization operates. Strategic management/administration involves creating, maintaining, and deploying plans-of-action that address changing circumstances in social, economic, environmental, or financial environments; new technology; and new competitors.

7.03   Students graduating from the Program shall be able to demonstrate entry-level knowledge about management/administration of recreation, park resources, and leisure services.

Internship/Field Experience

7.04   Students graduating from the program shall demonstrate, through a comprehensive internship of not less than 400 clock hours, the ability to use diverse, structured ways of thinking to solve problems related to different facets of professional practice, engage in advocacy, and stimulate innovation.

 

Important Information Regarding Degree Mills and the Value of Accreditation

Please watch this importantvideo regarding degree and accreditation mills.  According to the Council for Accreditation for Higher Education (CHEA), "Degree mills and accreditation mills mislead and harm. In the United States, degrees and certificates from mills may not be acknowledged by other institutions when students seek to transfer or go to graduate school. Employers may not acknowledge degrees and certificates from degree mills when providing tuition assistance for continuing education. “Accreditation” from an accreditation mill can mislead students and the public about the quality of an institution. In the presence of degree mills and accreditation mills, students may spend a good deal of money and receive neither an education nor a useable credential."  Read more on CHEA's website.

CHEA defines accreditation as "the primary means of assuring and improving the quality of higher education institutions and programs in the United States. Active for the past 100 years, this private, voluntary system of self-examination and peer review has been central to the creation of a U.S. higher education enterprise that is outstanding in many respects."  Please watch this short video about the Value of Accreditation to learn more.