Notice2023-24434
Accrediting Agencies Currently Undergoing Review for the Purpose of Recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 6, 2023
Issuing agencies
Education Department
Abstract
This notice provides information to members of the public on submitting written comments for accrediting agencies currently undergoing review for the purpose of recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 213 (Monday, November 6, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 213 (Monday, November 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76194-76196]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24434]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Accrediting Agencies Currently Undergoing Review for the Purpose
of Recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education
AGENCY: Accreditation Group, Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S.
Department of Education.
ACTION: Call for written third-party comments.
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SUMMARY: This notice provides information to members of the public on
submitting written comments for accrediting agencies currently
undergoing review for the purpose 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, Fifth Floor, Washington, DC 20202,
[[Page 76195]]
telephone: (202) 453-7615, or email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d2bab7a0bfb3bcfcb0bda7bcb6a192b7b6fcb5bda4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="94fcf1e6f9f5fabaf6fbe1faf0e7d4f1f0baf3fbe2">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This request for written third-party
comments concerning the performance of accrediting agencies under
review by the Secretary of Education is required by 496(n)(1)(A) of the
Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended, and pertains to the
winter 2025 meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional
Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). The meeting date and location have not
been determined but will be announced in a later Federal Register
notice. In addition, a later Federal Register notice will describe how
to register to provide oral comments at the meeting. Note: Written
comments about the specific agencies identified below will not be
accepted or provided to NACIQI members if those comments are submitted
after the deadline provided in this Federal Register notice, which is
December 8, 2023. Written comments must be submitted to the mailbox
identified below. Do not submit written comments directly to Department
officials or to NACIQI members.
Agencies under Review and Evaluation: The Department requests
written comments from the public on the following accrediting agencies,
which are currently undergoing review and evaluation by the
Accreditation Group, and which will be reviewed at the winter 2025
NACIQI meeting. The agencies are listed by the type of application or
report each agency has submitted. Please note, each agency's current
scope of recognition is indicated below. If any agency requested to
expand its scope of recognition, identified are both the current scope
of recognition and the requested scope of recognition.
Compliance Reports
1. American Occupational Therapy Association, Accreditation Council
for Occupational Therapy Education. Scope of Recognition: The
accreditation and preaccreditation of occupational therapy educational
programs offering the professional master's degree and occupational
therapy doctorate (OTD) degree; the accreditation of occupational
therapy assistant programs offering a baccalaureate degree and
associate degree; and the accreditation of these programs offered via
distance education. Geographic Area of Accrediting Activities: The
United States. The compliance report includes findings of noncompliance
with certain criteria in 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 602
identified in the October 19, 2022, letter from the senior Department
official (SDO) following the July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The SDO
letter is available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at <a href="https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents">https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents</a>.
2. Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. Scope of
Recognition: The preaccreditation and accreditation of CPE Level I/
Level II programs and Certified Educator CPE programs, and the
accreditation of these programs offered via distance education.
Geographic Area of Accrediting Activities: The United States. The
compliance report includes findings of noncompliance with certain
criteria in 34 CFR part 602 identified in the November 10, 2022, letter
from the SDO following the July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The SDO
letter is available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at <a href="https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents">https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents</a>.
3. Accrediting Council for Pharmacy Education. Scope of
Recognition: The accreditation and pre-accreditation of professional
degree programs in pharmacy leading to the degree of Doctor of
Pharmacy, including those programs offered via distance education.
Geographic Area of Accrediting Activities: The United States. The
compliance report includes findings of noncompliance with certain
criteria in 34 CFR part 602 identified in the November 7, 2022, letter
from the SDO following the July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The SDO
letter is available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at <a href="https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents">https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents</a>.
4. Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools. Scope of
Recognition: The accreditation of institutions with postsecondary, non-
degree granting career and technology programs, to include the
accreditation of postsecondary, non-degree granting institutions that
offer all or part of their educational programs via distance education
modalities. Geographic Area of Accrediting Activities: The United
States. The compliance report includes findings of noncompliance with
certain criteria in 34 CFR part 602 identified in the October 19, 2022,
letter from the SDO following the July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The
SDO letter is available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at <a href="https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents">https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents</a>.
5. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on
Colleges. Scope of Recognition: The accreditation and pre-accreditation
(``Candidate for Accreditation'') of degree-granting institutions of
higher education in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and
Virginia, including the accreditation of educational programs offered
via distance and correspondence education, and direct assessment within
these institutions. The accreditation status of these institutions and
their recognition extends to the SACSCOC Board of Trustees, Executive
Council, and the Appeals Committee of the Collegiate College Delegate
Assembly on cases of initial candidacy or initial accreditation and for
continued accreditation or candidacy. The compliance report includes
findings of noncompliance with certain criteria in 34 CFR part 602
identified in the November 7, 2022, letter from the SDO following the
July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The SDO letter is available under NACIQI
meeting date 7/19/2022, at <a href="https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents">https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents</a>.
Submission of Written Comments Regarding a Specific Accrediting Agency
Under Review
Written comments about the recognition of any of the accrediting
agencies listed above must be received by December 8, 2023, in the
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#33675b5a4157635241474a705c5e5e565d47407356571d545c45"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="baeed2d3c8deeadbc8cec3f9d5d7d7dfd4cec9fadfde94ddd5cc">[email protected]</span></a> mailbox. Please include in the subject line
``Written Comments: (agency name).'' The electronic mail (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 PDF, Microsoft Word document
or in a medium compatible with Microsoft Word that is attached to an
email or provided in the body of an email message. Comments about an
agency that has submitted a compliance report scheduled for review by
the Department must relate to the criteria for recognition cited in the
SDO letter that requested the compliance report following the July 19,
2022, NACIQI meeting, or in the Secretary's appeal decision, if any.
The SDO letters for the specific agencies referenced in this Federal
Register notice are available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at
<a href="https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents">https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents</a>.
Only written materials 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. Written comments about the specific agencies
identified in this
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Federal Register notice that are submitted after the deadline will not
be considered by the Department or provided to NACIQI for purposes of
the current review. However, comments may be provided orally at the
winter 2025 NACIQI meeting, which has not yet been scheduled, but which
will be announced in a future Federal Register notice.
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: <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys">www.gpo.gov/fdsys</a>. At this site, you can view this document, as
well as all other documents of the 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:
<a href="http://www.federalregister.gov">www.federalregister.gov</a>. 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; 20 U.S.C. 1099b.
Nasser Paydar,
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2023-24434 Filed 11-3-23; 8:45 am]
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