A New Blueprint for Quality Nursing Education: 2028 ACEN Standards and Criteria

The ACEN is one of the largest specialized accrediting agencies, accrediting nursing programs throughout the United States, its territories, and internationally. Many look to ACEN to set the standard for global quality nursing education. The ACEN Standards are frequently used as the blueprint to ensure quality nursing education.

The process has begun on the development of the new 2028 ACEN Standards and Criteria. ACEN had a robust response to the call for volunteers to begin the work of developing the next set of Standards and Criteria. Volunteers selected include nurse educators representing all six levels of nursing, clinicians, public members, as well as both undergraduate and graduate students. Each sub-group is also geographically dispersed. Two sub-groups were developed to review Standards 1-3 (Administrative Capacity and Resources, Faculty, and Students) or Standards 4-5 (Curriculum and Outcomes). The overall group met in early June to begin this process; both sub-groups continue to meet biweekly online.

ACEN is required by the United States Department of Education (USDE) as well as the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to review its standards on a regular basis to ensure that the standards reflect quality nursing education in a contemporary work environment. ACEN completes this process every five years which is in accordance with ACEN’s Policy #24 Assessment of the Adequacy of Standards and Criteria, ACEN Process, and Practices.

The groups are reviewing the 2023 Standards and Criteria for currency and relevance. They are also reviewing the data collected by the ACEN and reported annually in the Report to Constituents. The overall group hopes to have a draft of the 2028 Standards and Criteria available for public comment this fall with a final round of public comments in Spring 2027. A final version of the standards will be sent to the Board of Commissioners in July 2027. Programs with initial or continuing accreditation visits in the year of 2028 will have the option of adopting the new set of standards or using the current set of standards. All nursing programs will need to transition to the 2028 Standards and Criteria for visits beginning January 1, 2029.

Be looking for notifications when the drafts are available for public comments and plan on participating.

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