APA Education Accreditation Committee

APA Accredited Polygraph Programs

This list below represents those programs that have agreed to voluntarily comply with the minimum education and training standards established by the APA. These APA accredited programs undergo periodic inspections to determine compliance with those standards. The APA strives to ensure eac accredited program maintains all minimum education and training standards throughout the period of accreditation; however, the APA cannot and does not certify that individual programs comply, from course to course, with the standards. (The APA takes seriously any failure of a program to maintain the minimum accreditation standards, and therefore it reserves the right to revoke the accreditation of any program it determines has failed or is failing to maintain all standards.) Additionally, the APA cannot and does not certify the competency of polygraph examiners who graduate from these programs.

The APA accreditation standards appear below. These standards include, among many others, the following: a minimum of 400 hours that will be completed in not fewer than 10 nor more than 17** weeks and must be conducted at a qualified education and training facility; a week shall consist of at least four but not more than six consecutive days; a day is defined as at least six but not more than nine hours, excluding lunch and breaks; at least 95% of the instruction hours provided each week shall be done so in the presence of a faculty member qualified to provide such instruction.

**Accredited programs conducted as part of a university or college degree program are not limited to the 17-week maximum. Any exception to the 10 to 17-week time limit for completion of a traditional polygraph program requires a program to seek a waiver of the standards, which are only granted by the APA in exceptional circumstances that are beyond the control of the student.

NOTE: The APA does not recognize, for basic polygraph education and training, on-line or distance learning for any portion of the required 400 hours of in-residence training.

Additionally, graduation from an APA-accredited program is one of the requirements for membership in the APA. (See this page if you are considering attending a non-accredited polygraph school/program and desire membership in the APA.)

The spreadsheet below contains the list of APA-accredited basic polygraph programs. It also contains programs who have reapplied for accreditation but whose accreditation has lapsed. Those with lapsed accreditation are listed separately (i.e., on the lower portion of the spreadsheet). (For a PDF version, click here.)

* Indicates that enrollment is limited to government or law enforcement applicants.

** Indicates that enrollment is limited to government or law enforcement applicants within the agency housing the program.

APA Accreditation Standards

The current standards appear below. APA-accredited programs must agree to maintain all standards throughout the period of accreditation (unless a waiver is granted, and waivers are rare).

NOTE: The board of directors approved amendments to the standards on August 23, 2019. The standards below are current as of that date.