Accrediting commission threatened with possible withdrawal of federal recognition
In a six-folio letter to Barbara Beno, president of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Inferior Colleges (ACCJC), the Department of Pedagogy said that the commission needed to have "immediate activity" to correct four areas of non-compliance with federal regulations. The letter of the alphabet came in response to a 275-page complaint filed past the California Federation of Teachers over how the commission handled the accreditation review of City Higher. The Committee has ordered City Higher, which with 85,000 part- or total-time students is the largest in the land, airtight unless it responds more fully to a series of concerns. The California Federation of Teachers represents the faculty and other staff at City College.
In its response to the complaint, federal officials found that several aspects of the commission's accreditation review process did not meet the U.Southward. Secretarial assistant of Education'due south criteria for providing recognition to an accrediting commission. "We take determined that in social club to avoid initiation of an action to limit, suspend or end ACCJC'due south recognition, ACCJC must take immediate steps to right the areas of not-compliance identified in this alphabetic character," the letter signed by Kay Gilcher, director of the U.Southward. Department of Teaching's Accreditation Group, concluded.
The federal response reflects the extraordinarily complex relationship between federal oversight of the accreditation process to ensure that billions of dollars in educatee loan dollars are spent at colleges that provide students with a quality education and pressures on accreditors to go on colleges open up despite shortcomings that they may place in their accreditation reviews.
Federal concerns near the accreditation review of Metropolis College includes the assertions that in violation of federal requirements simply one faculty member was on two evaluation teams of 8 and sixteen members, that the committee "created the appearance to the public of creating a conflict of involvement" by having Beno'due south husband be on one of the evaluation teams, and that it had failed to provide a "detailed written report that clearly identifies any deficiencies in the institution's compliance" with the commission's standards.
The allegations prompted Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the parent organization of the union that filed the complaint, to phone call on the committee to abandon its recommendation to strip the college of its accreditation and to institute a new review "under proper procedures that ensure good faith and fairness to all interested parties."
City College is easily the largest college to confront closure every bit a result an accreditation review in California. In fact, it is the largest higher in the country, and ane of the largest in the nation.
In a statement published on its website, the commission said it was "disappointed" with the findings, and that it would brand "necessary changes to appropriately address the Department'due south concerns." Notwithstanding, it took issue with the assertion that only 1 academic was represented on the evaluation team, and as well said that information technology appeared that in another surface area the federal government was imposing new requirements.
The U.S. Department of Education recognizes a range of accrediting commissions across the nation. Every v years accrediting commissions must apply for renewal of their federal recognition. In 2007, when its federal recognition came up for renewal, the ACCJC was found to be "non-compliant" with federal standards, essentially for not being tough enough on colleges not meeting its standards for accreditation.
The commission said that information technology would respond to the latest federal concerns as function of its upcoming recognition review scheduled for December of this year.
Going deeper
Read the U.S. Department of Pedagogy's alphabetic character to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Inferior Colleges hither, and the commission's response here
For background reports on federal pressures on accrediting commissions, meet EdSource reports here and here
To go more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource'due south no-cost daily email on latest developments in education.
Source: https://edsource.org/2013/accrediting-commission-threatened-with-possible-withdrawal-of-federal-recognition/37267
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