[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12778-12779]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-04410]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Office of Postsecondary Education; Call for Written Third-Party 
Comments

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 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 Summer 2020 National Advisory Committee 
on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) 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 scope of 
recognition, which are scheduled to appear at the Summer 2020 meeting 
of NACIQI, for which dates have not yet been determined.

Application for Renewal of Recognition (State Agency for the Approval 
of Vocational Education)

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

Application for Renewal of Recognition (State Agency for the Approval 
of Nurse Education)

    1. New York State Board of Regents, State Education Department, 
Office of the Professions (Nursing Education).
    2. Missouri State Board of Nursing.

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

    1. National Intelligence University: Undergoing Substantive Change 
(Reorganization/Command Change).
    2. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College: Undergoing 
Substantive Change (Curriculum Change).

Compliance Report

    1. Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools 
compliance report includes findings of noncompliance with the criteria 
in 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Sec.  602 as referenced in the 
Decision of the Secretary (Docket No. 16-44-0) available at https://opeweb.ed.gov/e-Recognition/PublicDocuments under NACIQI meeting date: 
06/23/2016 for ACICS. 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.

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 April 1, 2020,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

[[Page 12779]]

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 Summer 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. 2020-04410 Filed 3-3-20; 8:45 am]
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