The APA, or American Psychological Association, is a professional organization for the advancement of psychology as a science. The APA contains within it a Commission on Accreditation, a nationally recognized accrediting authority which seeks to standardize the professional educational curriculum and training that students of psychology receive from accredited programs. The accreditation is recognized by both the United States of Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, or CHEA. The APA does not accredit colleges or universities as a whole or bachelor's or master's level psychology programs.
The main professional degrees attainable by students within a psychology degree program are the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and the Doctor of Psychology (PsyD). As such, the primary doctoral programs accredited by the APA are those of clinical psychology, counseling and school psychology. In addition, programs offering combination degrees containing more than one of these fields of study are also eligible for accreditation. Also accreditable are internship programs that are requisites of doctoral training and post-doctoral programs that prepare students for professional practice with advanced training.
The CHEA is a non-accrediting organizational body consisting of about 3,000 colleges and universities and 60 accrediting organizations. Its stated purpose is advocating for a self-regulating academic system for quality of education. It seeks to prevent a system of federal government-based accreditation. It is a non-governmental body whose main goal is to coordinate the academic accreditation process. The organization seeks to raise public awareness and understanding of accreditation as well as the differences in the various accrediting agencies.
The primary difference between the two entities is that one is a certificate of competency granted to academic programs training professional psychologists, while the other is an organization of independent American schools and accrediting agencies that works as both advocate and quality assurer of the academic accreditation process. However, they maintain the same goal of ensuring that accredited schools remain competent, academically sound and progressive.