ABET assists institutions and programs that are new to accreditation by providing assessment planning resources, webinars on assessment and accreditation topics, event presentation archives, assessment events, and advisory services throughout the year.
Assessment Planning Resources
Assessment planning information includes a library of assessment articles and downloads of assessment tools.
Webinars
ABET's free webinars cover a range of topics in accreditation and assessment. These 90-minute, web-based presentations may be viewed at your convenience. PDF downloads of the handouts for each webinar are also provided.
ABET Event Presentation Archive
ABET's Event Presentation Archive offers presentations on the accreditation process in a variety of formats, including information from the Institutional Representatives Day at the Summer Commission Meeting. The archive is helpful both for institutions and programs new to accreditation and for accredited programs preparing for their next review.
The ABET Symposium
The Symposium features more than 60 peer-reviewed sessions on assessment and accreditation processes, Pre-Symposium Workshops centering on assessment topics, and a Resource Room with examples of well-written self-studies and other information.
Program Assessment Workshops
Develop program assessment skills in these one-day workshops. Participants broaden their understanding of the continuous quality improvement of student learning through the design of assessment processes, development of measurable learning outcomes, and application of data collection methods.
The Institute for the Development of Excellence in Assessment Leadership (IDEAL)
IDEAL is a four-day professional development opportunity for those responsible for leading the assessment process at their institutions.
Advisory Services
While ABET generally supports the use of consultants by interested parties seeking to prepare for an accreditation review, it does not condone the identification of persons outside the ABET organization as ‘experts.’
Accreditation criteria, policies and procedures are modified routinely. Persons outside the ABET organization are, in many instances, not current. ABET does not allow current members and alternate members of its accreditation commissions, or members and alternate members of its Board of Directors, to consult on accreditation matters because of potential conflicts of interest.
A number of former ABET volunteers, including program evaluators and commission members are available to assist programs and institutions in developing programs and preparing for accreditation. The ensuing arrangements are between the institution and the consultant and do not involve ABET. Such arrangements reflect the experience and currency of the consultant and do not reflect an official ABET position.
A roster of available consultants may be obtained from the ABET Foundation, which provides consultation services, workshops, and training events that cover all aspects of quality education and best practices in accreditation and assessment. The ABET Foundation is an independent entity and guided by a separate governing body in order to avoid conflicts of interest that would potentially arise from ABET providing services to those institutions that it also accredits.
Receiving training or consultation from any organizations or person, however skilled, does not guarantee that a particular academic program can or will achieve ABET accreditation.