[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46503-46504]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-19025]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Performance of Accrediting Agencies Under Review by the Secretary 
of Education

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Education, Accreditation Group, Office of 
Postsecondary 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 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. These accrediting agencies 
will be on the agenda for the Winter 2020 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 Department's Office 
of Postsecondary Education Accreditation Group, including each agency's 
current and requested scopes of recognition:

Application for Initial Recognition

    1. National Nurse Practitioner Residency and Fellowship Training 
Consortium. Requested Scope of Recognition: The accreditation of 
postgraduate residency and fellowship

[[Page 46504]]

nurse practitioner (NP) postgraduate training programs in the United 
States. This recognition also extends to the agency's Appeals Panel.

Applications for Renewal of Recognition

    1. New York State Board of Regents, State Education Department, 
Office of the Professions (Public Postsecondary Vocational Education, 
Practical Nursing).
    2. Pennsylvania State Board of Vocational Education, Bureau of 
Career and Technical Education.
    3. Kansas State Board of Nursing.
    4. Maryland Board of Nursing.

Application for an Expansion of Scope

    1. The Association for Biblical Higher Education, Commission on 
Accreditation. Scope of Recognition: The accreditation and 
preaccreditation (``Candidate for Accreditation''), at the 
undergraduate level, of institutions of biblical higher education in 
the United States offering both campus-based and distance education 
instructional programs. Requested Scope of Recognition: The 
accreditation and preaccreditation (``Candidate Status'') of 
institutions of biblical higher education in the United States offering 
undergraduate certificates, associate degrees, baccalaureate degrees, 
graduate certificates, and master's degrees, including the 
accreditation of educational programs offered via distance education.

Application for Granting of Academic (Masters and Doctoral) Degrees by 
Federal Agencies and Institutions

    1. National Intelligence University: Undergoing Substantive Change 
(Reorganization/Command Change).

Compliance Report

    1. The Oklahoma Board of Career and Technology Education (OBCTE) 
compliance report includes findings of noncompliance with the criteria 
in 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Sec.  603 identified in the May 
9, 2018 letter from the senior Department official following the 
February 7, 2018 NACIQI meeting available at: https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/finalstaffreports.cfm.

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 October 3, 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 renewal of recognition must relate to the agency's 
compliance with the Criteria for the Recognition of Accrediting 
Agencies, or the Criteria and Procedures for Recognition of State 
Agencies for the Approval of Vocational and 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 Winter 2020 meeting regarding 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.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 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.

Robert L. King,
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2019-19025 Filed 9-3-19; 8:45 am]
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