[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 42 (Monday, March 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7349-7350]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-03733]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Request for Comments: Performance of Accrediting Agencies

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 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 written third-party 
comments concerning the performance of accrediting agencies under 
review by the Secretary of Education is required by Sec.  496(n)(1)(A) 
of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended, and pertains to 
the Summer 2019 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. Also, a later Federal Register notice will 
describe how to register to provide oral comments at the meeting.
    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 Summer NACIQI 
meeting. The agencies are listed, with their current and requested 
scope of recognition, by the type of application each has submitted:

Applications for Renewal of Recognition

    1. National Association of Schools of Dance, Commission on 
Accreditation. Scope of recognition: The accreditation throughout the 
United States of freestanding institutions that offer dance and dance-
related programs (both degree and non-degree-granting), including those 
offered via distance education.
    2. National Association of Schools of Music, Commission on 
Accreditation. Scope of recognition: The accreditation throughout the 
United States of freestanding institutions that offer music and music 
related programs (both degree and non-degree-granting), including those 
offered via distance education.
    3. National Association of Schools of Theatre, Commission on 
Accreditation. Scope of recognition: The accreditation throughout the 
United States of freestanding institutions that offer theatre and 
theatre-related programs (both degree and non-degree-granting), 
including those offered via distance education.

Compliance Report

    1. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on 
Colleges. Compliance report includes the following: Finding identified 
in the September 20, 2017 letter from the senior Department official 
following the June 20, 2017 NACIQI meeting available at: https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/finalstaffreports.cfm, with respect to recognition 
requirements found at 34 CFR Sec.  602.15(a)(2). Scope of recognition: 
The accreditation and preaccreditation (``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 programs offered via distance and correspondence 
education within these institutions. This recognition extends to the 
SACSCOC Board of Trustees and the Appeals Committee of the College 
Delegate Assembly on cases of initial candidacy or initial 
accreditation and for continued accreditation or candidacy.
    2. Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools. Compliance report 
includes the following: Finding identified in the September 20, 2017 
letter from the senior Department official following the June 20, 2017 
NACIQI meeting available at: https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/finalstaffreports.cfm, with respect to recognition requirements found 
at 34

[[Page 7350]]

CFR 602.15(a)(1) and 602.15(a)(2). Scope of recognition: The 
accreditation of institutions with postsecondary, non-degree granting 
career and technology programs in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New 
York, Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of 
Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to include the accreditation of 
postsecondary, non-degree granting institutions that offer all or part 
of their educational programs via distance education modalities.

Application for an Expansion of Scope

    1. Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. Scope of 
Recognition: The accreditation of both clinical pastoral education 
(CPE) centers and supervisory CPE programs located within the United 
States and territories
    Requested Scope of Recognition: The provisional accreditation and 
accreditation of both clinical pastoral education (CPE) centers and 
certified educator CPE programs within the United States and 
territories, including those that offer those programs via distance 
education.

Application for Initial Recognition

    1. National League for Nursing Commission for Nursing Education 
Accreditation. Requested Scope of Recognition: The pre-accreditation 
and accreditation of nursing education programs, in the United States 
and its territories, which offer a certificate, diploma or degree at 
the practical/vocational, diploma, associate, baccalaureate, masters, 
doctoral levels, including those offered via distance education.

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

    Written comments about the recognition of one of the accrediting or 
State agencies listed above must be received by March 30, 2019, 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 that has submitted a compliance 
report scheduled for review by the Department must relate to 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 an agency that has submitted a 
petition for initial recognition, renewal of recognition, or an 
expansion of scope must relate to the agency's compliance with the 
Criteria for the Recognition of Accrediting Agencies, 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.
    Note: In addition to the agencies listed above, the agenda for the 
Summer 2019 NACIQI meeting includes all accrediting agencies that were 
scheduled to appear at the Winter 2019 NACIQI meeting. The Winter 2019 
NACIQI meeting was cancelled due to the lapse in appropriations. The 
solicitation of third-party comments for those accrediting agencies was 
announced in the Federal Register notice (83 FR 44869-44870), dated 
September 4, 2018. The written comment period for those accrediting 
agencies has closed. The final staff reports for those agencies have 
been released and are available at: https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/finalstaffreports.cfm.
    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.gpo.gov/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 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. 2019-03733 Filed 3-1-19; 8:45 am]
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