Accreditation Corner
Stephanie Shea - Accreditation Program Manager, NPDN, and Associate Director, NEPDN; Allina Bennett - Associate Director, SPDN
The Communicator: Volume 6, Issue 5, May 2025
Updates and Due Dates
Welcome to this month’s Accreditation Corner! We still have two accredited labs, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and University of Florida, which is wonderful. And.. drum roll… we now have three labs that have submitted their applications, which are currently being reviewed. NEWS FLASH: Once your lab becomes accredited your data will be starred in the NDR as being from an Accredited Lab. Let’s all reach for the star(s)!
A quick note on some upcoming due dates. For NPDN Labs that receive funding from a Regional Center or are a Regional Center lab, the Quality Manual is due in approximately ONE YEAR, on May 15, 2026. If you have already submitted your materials for application, or do so by this date, you do not have to separately submit your Quality Manual. You submit your Quality Manual on LearnUpon via the course titled: “Core Accreditation Quality Manual Submission.” This Quality Manual submission shows progress towards your Application for Core Accreditation and avoids any withholding of funds for the first year of the next Cooperative Agreement (September 1, 2026 – August 31, 2027).
Thank you to everyone who has signed up for a slot to submit your application for Core Accreditation! The application is still due December 31, 2026, but our goal is to get everybody signed up for a particular month between now and then to submit your full application. Your month to shine. If you have not heard of this, please contact me by emailing npdnaccreditation@gmail.com so we can find a slot for you!
You will submit your application via the LearnUpon course titled: “Welcome to Application for Core Accreditation.” For more information on how to apply for Core Accreditation and what is required to apply, please visit the March Communicator Article titled: “How to Apply for Core Accreditation.” For more deadlines or more information on our current accreditation policies, please visit the NPDN Lab Accreditation website.
