The federal panel that advises the education secretary on accreditation issues is taking a second look at its 2012 recommendations for how the coming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act should deal with accreditation.
The question is whether the panel's recommendations will matter in an environment where questions of higher-education quality have increasingly been taken over by politics.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity heard from representatives of accreditors and institutions, who said accreditation had largely become an exercise in determining compliance with federal rules rather than an opportunity to help improve the academic programs and student learning at colleges.
The advisory-panel members then spent nearly two hours discussing the role of accreditors in ensuring academic quality and regulatory compliance, as well as their own purpose in advising the education secretary on federal recognition of accrediting agencies, by the U.S. Department of Education.
At the end, the panel voted to reconsider its earlier report, which called for mostly modest changes in the accreditation process. Susan D. Phillips, chairwoman of the 18-member panel and provost at the State University of New York at Albany, outlined four broad policy issues that the group will consider over the summer, including streamlining the accreditation process and revising how the panel goes about recommending accreditors for federal recognition.
Some of those who testified during the two days accused the panel of sacrificing its independence by relying too heavily on information from the Education Department staff members who provide reports on the accrediting agencies that are applying to be recognized.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Panel-Considers-Bolder/147283