The Challenges of a Crackdown on Accreditation by the U.S. Department of Education

Challenges of an Accreditor Crackdown (Inside Higher Ed, November 17, 2015)
“The Education Department says it's going to get tougher with college accreditors. But are those federally recognized watchdogs too big to fail?”

Community College Leaders Call for New Accrediting System (Los Angeles Times, November 16, 2015)
“California community college leaders voted [November 15] to establish a new system for evaluating the state’s 113 community colleges, dealing a blow to the controversial panel that currently oversees accreditation.”

Senator Asks Government Accountability Office to Review  U.S. Department of Education Oversight of Higher Education Institutions’ Eligibility for Federal Financial Aid (Letter from Senator Claire McCaskill, Chair, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, November 16, 2015)
“To what extent does the Department rely on accreditation and States for oversight and monitoring?”

Accreditation Reformers Propose a Model of Their Own (Chronicle of Higher Education, November 12, 2015)
“Amid all the talk about fixing accreditation, a new education consultancy based in Silicon Valley is proposing a new model for assessing educational quality.”

In an Era of Declining Law School Aspirations, Does ABA Accreditation Matter? (Noodle, November 11, 2015)
“Prospective law students often wonder about the differences between an [American Bar Association]-approved law school and one that doesn’t have this certification – and whether they would be wasting their time and money if they were to attend a non-accredited school.”

White House Readies Accreditor for Computer Boot Camps (Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2015 – subscription required)
“The new boot-camp watchdogs represent an end run around that law by creating a new type of accreditor – although one with a more limited purview.”

UK Universities Face Biggest Shake-Up for Decades (University World News, November 6, 2015)
“Under the new Teaching Excellence Framework, universities and their departments will be graded, using published data from surveys of student satisfaction, student retention rates, and graduate employment rates, and other sources.”

CHEA Notes

CHEA 2016 Annual Conference (January 25-27) and the CIQG Annual Meeting (January 27-28)
Registration Now Open.