Accreditation is sold as a marker of quality social service, but amazingly little is known about the effects of accreditation on quality in any field, including the social services. A new paper by Madeline Lee of Tulane University sheds some light on what it is like for social service agencies to go through the accreditation process. Dr. Lee studied five social service organizations as they underwent their initial COA accreditation. Some agencies found it a struggle, not just to prepare the COA self-study, but also to establish the Quality Improvement processes that COA requires for becoming accredited. Two kudos here: 1) for Dr. Lee undertaking a research agenda on accreditation. It is much needed. 2) For COA sticking to their guns and requiring solid QI processes of all agencies they accredit. The study, in my biased eyes, also points to the need for widespread training and coaching for social service agencies on quality improvement. Too many small agencies, especially, are clueless about what QI can offer them and their clients.

The study was published in Families in Society. Academic readers may be able to access the article here.