In the United States, institutions of higher education are permitted to operate with considerable independence and autonomy. The United States has no Ministry of Education or other centralized Federal authority exercising control over the quality of postsecondary educational institutions, and the States assume varying degrees of control over education. As a consequence, American educational institutions can vary widely in the character and quality of their programs. To ensure a basic level of quality, the practice of accreditation arose in the United States as a means of conducting nongovernmental, peer evaluation of educational institutions and programs. With the passage of the Higher Education Act (HEA) in 1965, Congress expanded the role of accrediting agencies by entrusting them with ensuring academic quality of the educational institutions at which Federal student aid funds may be used subject to oversight by the federal government through the recognition process. Private educational associations have adopted criteria intended to reflect the qualities of a sound educational program and have developed procedures for evaluating institutions or programs to determine whether or not they are operating at acceptable levels of quality. Although accrediting agencies promulgate standards to ensure institutional quality, agencies have no legal control over educational institutions or programs.
Under the HEA, the Department does not have the authority to recognize accrediting agencies for the accreditation of private or public elementary and secondary schools. If an accrediting agency which is recognized by the Department for higher education also accredits elementary and secondary schools, the Department's recognition applies only to the agencies' accreditation of postsecondary institutions or programs.
Some Important Functions of Accreditation
- Assess the quality of academic programs at institutions of higher education
- Create a culture of continuous improvement of academic quality at postsecondary institutions and stimulate a general raising of standards among educational institutions
- Involve faculty and staff comprehensively in institutional and programmatic evaluation and planning
Note: Accreditation does not provide automatic acceptance by an institution of credit earned at another institution, nor does it give assurance of acceptance of graduates by employers. Students should contact the receiving institution to help determine whether credits are transferrable. Acceptance of credit or graduates is always the prerogative of the receiving institution or employer. For these reasons, besides ascertaining the accredited status of an institution or program, students should take additional measures to determine, prior to enrollment, whether their educational goals will be met through attendance at a particular institution. Those measures should include inquiries to institutions to which transfer might be desired or to prospective employers, as well as any private or governmental entity responsible for licensing or certifying graduates to work in the field for which the educational program is intended.
Primary Accrediting Activities
- Standards: The agency, in collaboration with educational institutions and/or programs, establishes standards.
- Self-study: The institution or program seeking accreditation prepares an in-depth self-evaluation report that measures its performance against the standards established by the agency.
- On-site evaluation: A team of peers selected by the agency reviews the institution or program on-site to determine first-hand if the applicant meets the established standards.
- Decision and publication: Upon being satisfied that the applicant meets its standards, the accrediting agency grants accreditation or preaccreditation status and lists the institution or program in an official publication with other similarly accredited or preaccredited institutions or programs.
- Monitoring: An accrediting agency monitors each accredited institution or program throughout the period of accreditation granted to verify that it continues to meet the accrediting agency's standards.
- Reevaluation: The agency periodically reevaluates each institution or program that it accredits to ascertain whether continuation of its accredited or preaccredited status is warranted.
Types of Accreditation
There are two types of educational accreditation, one referred to as "institutional" and the other referred to as "programmatic."
Institutional accreditation applies to an entire institution, indicating that each of an institution's parts is contributing to the achievement of the institution's objectives.
Programmatic accreditation normally applies to programs, departments, or schools that are parts of an institution. The accredited unit may be as large as a college or school within an institution or as small as a curriculum within a discipline. Most of the programmatic agencies review units within an institution of higher education that is accredited by an institutional accrediting agency. However, certain agencies also accredit professional schools and other specialized or vocational institutions of higher education that are freestanding in their operations. Thus, a "programmatic" agency may also function in the capacity of an "institutional" agency. Some of these "institutions" are found within non-educational settings, such as hospitals.
The Accreditation Group
The Accreditation Group (AG) has been established within the Department of Education to deal with accreditation matters and implement the Secretary's Criteria for Recognition. Located in the Office of Postsecondary Education, the AG carries out the following major functions with respect to accreditation:
- Continuously reviews standards, policies, procedures, and issues in the area of the Department's accreditation responsibilities.
- Administers the process by which accrediting agencies and State approval agencies secure initial and renewed recognition by the Secretary.
- Serves as the Department's liaison with accrediting agencies and State approval agencies.
- Consults with institutions, associations, State agencies, other Federal agencies, and Congress regarding accreditation.
- Interprets and disseminates policy relative to accreditation issues for the Department.
- Conducts appropriate research and investigates complaints against recognized accrediting agencies and State approval agencies.
- Interacts with the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) during the recognition process.
- Works directly with the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation (NCFMEA) and provides subject matter expertise to NCFMEA members. AG staff reviews the medical education standards used in foreign countries for comparability with the medical education standards used to accredit medical school in the U.S.
- AG staff reviews applications of foreign veterinary accrediting agencies to determine if their accreditation standards are acceptable.
- AG staff also periodically reviews military degree programs in accordance with Federal degree-granting authority regulations.
Accreditation Group
U. S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202
Telephone: (202) 453-7615
The State Liaison team within the AG
The State Liaison team within the AG is composed of five analysts, and have the following responsibilities:
- Provide technical guidance to State officials on the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended (HEA) and Department regulations in 34 CFR §§ 602 and 603.
- Participate in meetings and conferences designed to promote and advance dialogue with State higher educational organizations regarding State and Federal statutory and regulatory requirements governing authorization, licensure, and accreditation of Title IV institutions.
- Respond to routine controlled correspondence, and phone inquiries from State officials, and coordinate with the appropriate staff analyst or ED office.
- Identify higher education issues that needed to be brought to the attention of the Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education and initiating public forums for discussion and dialogue among members of the higher education community.
- Build and/or update a directory which would list each State's key higher education staff (including SHEEOs), and state licensure officers along with their contact information.
- Work closely with State officials and accrediting agencies on school closures regarding the following:
- Adequacy of teach-out plans and teach-out agreements.
- Confer with State officials and accrediting agencies regarding the status of institutions included in teach-out plans and agreements.
- As a courtesy, obtain information from State officials regarding student records and where student records are stored for the closed institution.