83 FR 3335 - Office of Postsecondary Education; Solicitation of Third-Party Comments Concerning the Performance of Accrediting Agencies

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 16 (January 24, 2018)

This notice provides information to members of the public on submitting written comments for accrediting agencies currently undergoing review for purposes of recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 24, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3335-3336]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-01220]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Office of Postsecondary Education; Solicitation of Third-Party 
Comments Concerning the Performance of Accrediting Agencies

AGENCY: Accreditation Group, Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. 
Department of Education.

ACTION: Call for written third-party comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice provides information to members of the public on 
submitting written comments for accrediting agencies currently 
undergoing review for purposes of recognition by the U.S. Secretary of 
Education.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Herman Bounds, Director, Accreditation 
Group, Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 
400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 270-01, Washington, DC 20202, telephone: 
(202) 453-7615, or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This solicitation of third-party comments 
concerning the performance of accrediting agencies under review by the 
Secretary is required by section 496(n)(1)(A) of the Higher Education 
Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended. These accrediting agencies will be on 
the agenda for the Spring 2018 National Advisory Committee on 
Institutional Quality and Integrity meeting. The meeting date has not 
been determined, but will be announced in a separate Federal Register 
notice.
    Agencies Under Review and Evaluation: Below is a list of agencies 
currently undergoing review and evaluation by the Accreditation Group, 
including their current and requested scopes of recognition:

Application for Initial Recognition

    1. Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. 
Requested Scope of Recognition: The accreditation of private 
postsecondary institutions offering certificates or diplomas, and 
postsecondary institutions offering associate, bachelor's, or master's 
degrees in programs designed to educate students for professional, 
technical, or occupational careers, including those that offer those 
programs via distance education.

Applications for Renewal of Recognition

    1. Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools, 
Accreditation Commission. Scope of Recognition: The accreditation and 
preaccreditation (``Correspondent'' and ``Candidate'') within the 
United States of advanced rabbinical and Talmudic schools.
    2. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Accreditation Council for 
Education in Nutrition and Dietetics. Scope of Recognition: The 
accreditation and pre-accreditation, within the United States, of 
Didactic and Coordinated Programs in Dietetics at both the 
undergraduate and graduate level, post-baccalaureate Dietetic 
Internships, and Dietetic Technician Programs at the associate degree 
level, and for its accreditation of such programs offered via distance 
education.
    3. Accreditation Council on Optometric Education. Scope of 
Recognition: The accreditation in the United States of professional 
optometric degree programs, optometric technician (associate degree) 
programs, and optometric residency programs, and for the pre-
accreditation category of Preliminary Approval for professional 
optometric degree programs.
    4. Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational 
Programs. Scope of Recognition: The accreditation of institutions and 
programs of nurse anesthesia at the post master's certificate, 
master's, or doctoral degree levels in the United States, and its 
territories, including programs offering distance education.
    5. Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Scope of Recognition: 
The accreditation of medical education programs within the United 
States leading to the M.D. degree.
    6. Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Scope of 
Recognition: The accreditation and preaccreditation (``Candidacy 
Status'') of postsecondary degree-granting educational institutions in 
Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, and the 
accreditation of programs offered via distance education within these 
institutions.
    7. National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Scope of 
Recognition: For the accreditation throughout the United States of 
freestanding institutions and units offering art/design and art/design-
related programs (both degree- and non-degree-granting), including 
those offered via distance education.

Compliance Report

    1. American Psychological Association. Compliance report includes 
the following: (1) Findings identified in the September 22, 2016 letter 
from the senior Department official following the June 23, 2016 NACIQI 
meeting available at: https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/finalstaffreports.cfm, (2) Review under 34 CFR 602.19(a), and Sec.  
602.20(b).
    Scope of Recognition: The accreditation in the United States of 
doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, school and combined 
professional-scientific psychology; doctoral internship programs in 
health service psychology; and postdoctoral residency programs in 
health service psychology. The preaccreditation in the United States of 
doctoral internship programs in health service psychology;

[[Page 3336]]

and postdoctoral residency programs in health service psychology.
    2. American Bar Association Compliance report includes the 
following: (1) Findings identified in the October 28, 2016 letter from 
the senior Department official following the June 23, 2016 NACIQI 
meeting available at: https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/finalstaffreports.cfm, (2) Review under 34 CFR 602.15(a)(1), Sec.  
602.15(a)(2), Sec.  602.15(a)(3), Sec.  602.16(a)(1)(viii), and Sec.  
602.17(b).
    Scope of Recognition: The accreditation throughout the United 
States of programs in legal education that lead to the first 
professional degree in law as well as freestanding law schools offering 
such programs. This recognition also extends to the Accreditation 
Committee of the Section of Legal Education (Accreditation Committee) 
for decisions involving continued accreditation (referred to by the 
agency as ``approval'') of law schools.
    3. American Osteopathic Association, Commission on Osteopathic 
College Accreditation Compliance report includes the following: (1) 
Findings identified in the October 28, 2016 letter from the senior 
Department official following the June 23, 2016 NACIQI meeting 
available at: https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/finalstaffreports.cfm, (2) 
Review under 34 CFR 602.11, Sec.  602.13, Sec.  602.15(a)(3), Sec.  
602.16(a)(1)(i), Sec.  602.16(a)(1)(ii), Sec.  602.16(a)(1)(iii), Sec.  
602.16(a)(1)(iv) Sec.  602.16(a)(1)(v), Sec.  602.16(a)(1)(vi), Sec.  
602.16(a)(1)(vii) Sec.  602.16(a)(1)(viii) Sec.  602.16(a)(1)(ix) Sec.  
602.16(a)(1)(x), Sec.  602.16(a)(2), Sec.  602.17(a), Sec.  602.19(b), 
Sec.  602.20(a), and Sec.  602.26(b).
    4. Transnational Association Of Christian Colleges and Schools 
Compliance report includes the following: (1) Findings identified in 
the October 28, 2016 letter from the senior Department official 
following the June 23, 2016 NACIQI meeting available at: https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/finalstaffreports.cfm, (2) Review under 34 CFR 
602.15(a)(2), and Sec.  602.19(b).
    Scope of Recognition: The accreditation and preaccreditation 
(``Candidate'' Status) of Christian postsecondary institutions in the 
United States that offer certificates, diplomas, and associate, 
baccalaureate, and graduate degrees, including institutions that offer 
distance education.

Application for an Expansion of Scope

    Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools, 
Accreditation Commission. Scope of Recognition: The accreditation and 
preaccreditation (``Correspondent'' and ``Candidate'') within the 
United States of advanced rabbinical and Talmudic schools. Requested 
Scope: The accreditation of advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic 
institutions in the United States which grant postsecondary degrees 
such as Associate, Baccalaureate, Masters, Doctorate, First Rabbinic 
and First Talmudic degrees.

Renewal--State Agency for the Approval of Public Postsecondary 
Vocational Education

    Puerto Rico State Agency for the Approval of Public Postsecondary 
Vocational, Technical Institutions and Programs

Submission of Written Comments Regarding a Specific Accrediting Agency 
or State Approval Agency Under Review

    Written comments about the recognition of a specific accrediting or 
State agency must be received by February 16, 2018, in the 
[email protected] mailbox and include the subject line 
``Written Comments: (agency name).'' The email must include the 
name(s), title, organization/affiliation, mailing address, email 
address, and telephone number of the person(s) making the comment. 
Comments should be submitted as a Microsoft Word document or in a 
medium compatible with Microsoft Word (not a PDF file) that is attached 
to an electronic mail message (email) or provided in the body of an 
email message. Comments about an agency's recognition after review of a 
compliance report must relate to issues identified in the compliance 
report and the criteria for recognition cited in the senior Department 
official's letter that requested the report, or in the Secretary's 
appeal decision, if any. Comments about the renewal of an agency's 
recognition based on a review of the agency's petition must relate to 
its compliance with the Criteria for the Recognition of Accrediting 
Agencies, or the Criteria and Procedures for Recognition of State 
Agencies for Approval of Nurse Education as appropriate, which are 
available at http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html.
    Only written material submitted by the deadline to the email 
address listed in this notice, and in accordance with these 
instructions, become part of the official record concerning agencies 
scheduled for review and are considered by the Department and NACIQI in 
their deliberations.
    A later Federal Register Notice will describe how to register to 
provide oral comments at the meeting about the recognition of a 
specific accrediting agency or State approval agency.
    Electronic Access to this Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free 
internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the 
Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System 
at: www.thefederalregister.org/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well 
as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal 
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF, 
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the 
site. You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

    Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1011c.

Lynn B. Mahaffie,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning, Policy, and Innovation.
[FR Doc. 2018-01220 Filed 1-23-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P