Recognition of Accreditation Organizations

This paper provides a framework for thinking about recognition of higher education accrediting organizations in the United States, a function performed both by government, through the Department of Education (ED), and outside of government. Since 1996, that function outside the government has been carried out by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Before that time, it was conducted first by the Council for Postsecondary Accreditation (COPA) and then by the Council for Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation (CORPA).