by Kristopher D. Pritchard
Through December 15, 2019, the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB) will host a public comment review period for the 2016 LAAB Accreditation Standards.
Pursuant to the LAAB Accreditation Procedures, LAAB is tasked with conducting ongoing and comprehensive reviews of its accreditation standards to verify they adequately evaluate educational quality and are relevant to the educational needs of landscape architecture students.
Every five years, LAAB conducts long-term reviews to determine if the current standards, when viewed as a whole and individually, are adequate to assess the quality of landscape architecture education programs and pertinent to the education and training needs of students. LAAB last approved revisions to the standards in 2016 as part of its periodic review.
Starting November 1, LAAB will host a public comment review period for the 2016 LAAB Accreditation Standards. Interested individuals should submit comments and revisions of the LAAB Accreditation Standards on or before December 15.
Faculty, students, ASLA members, and non-members may use this review period to advocate for changes to the curriculum in university programs that will better prepare landscape architecture students for practice.
The LAAB accreditation process evaluates each program based on its stated objectives and compliance to externally-mandated minimum standards. The program conducts a self-study to assess how well it is meeting its educational goals. LAAB then provides an independent assessment, which determines if a program meets accreditation requirements. Programs leading to first professional degrees at the bachelor’s or master’s levels in the United States are eligible to apply for accreditation from LAAB. See a list of programs accredited by LAAB.
Kristopher D. Pritchard is Accreditation and Education Director at the American Society of Landscape Architects.