Major Accreditation Challenges of H.R. 4508
February 21, 2018
The House bill poses four major challenges for accreditation, calling on accrediting organizations to address the following:
- Public accountability as the dominant role of accreditation – in contrast to the historic dominance of quality improvement as the major role. Primary emphasis is on student achievement, institutional performance and transparency
- Increased emphasis on innovation as encouraged for accrediting organizations, including creation of other forms of quality review – with commensurate regulatory relief and flexibility, although within federal requirements.
- Accreditation standards, policies and practices needing overhaul, forcing change and rethinking that will reverberate throughout accreditation and higher education
- Congressional authority and oversight of accreditation strengthened in relation to the current role of the U.S. Department of Education – altering, perhaps in fundamental ways, the relationship between accrediting organizations and the federal government in the development of federal policy.