    Higher Education: Issues Related to Law School Accreditation
    (08-MAR-07, GAO-07-314).

    In order to participate in certain federal programs, such as
    federal student financial aid, postsecondary institutions must be
    accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the Department
    of Education (Education). Accreditation ensures that schools
    provide basic levels of quality in their educational programs,
    and Education recognizes those agencies it concludes can reliably
    determine the quality of education provided by the schools and
    programs they accredit. Since 1952, Education has recognized the
    American Bar Association (ABA) as an accrediting agency for law
    schools. ABA accreditation is important to the 195 law schools it
    accredits because it allows their graduates the flexibility to
    take the Bar exam in any jurisdiction in the United States. The
    Department of Education requires that all recognized accrediting
    agencies periodically reapply for continued recognition. The
    Secretary of Education's accreditation advisory group, the
    National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and
    Integrity (NACIQI), considered the ABA's most recent application
    for continued recognition in December 2006. The ABA was
    originally scheduled for review in December 2005, but Education
    postponed it twice based on the large volume of public comments
    that had to be reviewed, as well as concerns about the ABA's
    diversity standard. To address Congressional interest in these
    issues, we answered the following questions: (1) What is
    Education's process for recognizing accrediting agencies? (2)
    What is ABA's process for accrediting law schools? (3) What
    concerns have been raised about the ABA's accreditation process?
    -------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
    REPORTNUM:   GAO-07-314
        ACCNO:   A66667
      TITLE:     Higher Education: Issues Related to Law School
    Accreditation
         DATE:   03/08/2007
      SUBJECT:   Educational standards
    	     Higher education
    	     Institution accreditation
    	     Law schools
    	     Legal education

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    GAO-07-314

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    Report to Congressional Requesters

    United States Government Accountability Office

    GAO

    March 2007

    HIGHER EDUCATION

    Issues Related to Law School Accreditation

    GAO-07-314

    Contents

    Letter 1

    Appendix I Briefing Slides 5
    Appendix II Comments from the Department of Education 28
    Appendix III Comments from the American Bar Association 30

    Abbreviations

    ABA American Bar Association
    Education
    Department of Education
    NACIQI National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity

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    United States Government Accountability Office

    Washington, DC 20548

    March 8, 2007

    The Honorable George Miller
    Chairman
    The Honorable Howard P. "Buck" McKeon
    Ranking Minority Member
    Committee on Education and Labor
    House of Representatives

    The Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones
    House of Representatives

    In order to participate in certain federal programs, such as federal
    student financial aid, postsecondary institutions must be accredited by an
    accrediting agency recognized by the Department of Education (Education).
    Accreditation ensures that schools provide basic levels of quality in
    their educational programs, and Education recognizes those agencies it
    concludes can reliably determine the quality of education provided by the
    schools and programs they accredit. Since 1952, Education has recognized
    the American Bar Association (ABA) as an accrediting agency for law
    schools. ABA accreditation is important to the 195 law schools it
    accredits because it allows their graduates the flexibility to take the
    Bar exam in any jurisdiction in the United States.

    The Department of Education requires that all recognized accrediting
    agencies periodically reapply for continued recognition. The Secretary of
    Education's accreditation advisory group, the National Advisory Committee
    on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), considered the ABA's most
    recent application for continued recognition in December 2006. The ABA was
    originally scheduled for review in December 2005, but Education postponed
    it twice based on the large volume of public comments that had to be
    reviewed, as well as concerns about the ABA's diversity standard. To
    address your interest in these issues, we answered the following
    questions: (1) What is Education's process for recognizing accrediting
    agencies? (2) What is ABA's process for accrediting law schools? (3) What
    concerns have been raised about the ABA's accreditation process?

    We used the following methodologies to develop our findings. To understand
    Education and ABA processes related to accreditation, we reviewed relevant
    laws and regulations, ABA accreditation standards, and documents
    pertaining to the ABA's application for renewed recognition. We also
    interviewed Education officials, ABA representatives, and four law school
    administrators. To identify the concerns that have been raised about ABA's
    accreditation process, we reviewed third-party comments submitted to
    Education in advance of the NACIQI meeting. We also attended the December
    2006 public meeting that NACIQI held to consider ABA's application for
    continued recognition, and reviewed the transcript of the meeting.
    Finally, we analyzed ABA data on first-year law school enrollment and
    found the data sufficiently reliable for our purposes. We conducted our
    work between October 2006 and February 2007 in accordance with generally
    accepted government auditing standards.

    We briefed your staff on results of our analysis on February 9, 2007. This
    report formally conveys the information provided during that briefing. In
    summary, we reported the following findings:

               o Education has established criteria for recognizing an
               accrediting agency and has mechanisms in place to assess
               compliance with the criteria. Agencies found to be in compliance
               with Education's criteria can be approved for up to 5 years. There
               are also mechanisms in place to defer or deny an agency's
               recognition.

               o ABA has established standards for approval of law schools and
               has mechanisms in place to assess compliance with the criteria.
               Law schools are eligible for provisional approval when they
               demonstrate that they are in substantial compliance with each of
               the standards, and must demonstrate they are in full compliance to
               be fully approved.

               o Some Education staff, law school administrators, and other
               third-parties have raised concerns about ABA's accreditation
               process, particularly with respect to the transparency and
               consistency of the process, as well as the legality of its
               diversity standard, which requires schools to demonstrate they are
               reaching out to underrepresented groups. Based on concerns that
               ABA is not fully in compliance with regulatory provisions that
               govern accreditation, Education and NACIQI have recommended that
               the Secretary of Education renew ABA's recognition for a period of
               18 months, rather than the maximum period of 5 years.

    We provided copies of a draft of this report to the Department of
    Education and the American Bar Association for review and comment. In
    written comments, Education provided technical comments and
    clarifications, which we incorporated as appropriate. In particular,
    Education clarified that its recommendation suggested that NACIQI require
    ABA to submit interim reports on ABA's compliance with all criteria for
    accreditation recognition, not just the diversity standard as stated in
    the draft. We revised our report accordingly. However, we note that the
    recommended interim reporting requirements focus heavily on the diversity
    standard. Education also expressed concern about our characterization of
    why NACIQI excluded from its recommendation the additional reporting
    requirements related to diversity, as Education had recommended. Our
    report correctly notes that NACIQI did not think additional reporting
    related to the diversity standard was necessary because Education had not
    identified any instances in which ABA inconsistently applied the diversity
    standard or provided evidence that law schools had been compelled to
    violate existing state laws. However, Education thought our report should
    also note that NACIQI did not address Education's broader concern that ABA
    had not demonstrated that it has effective controls in place to prevent
    inconsistent application of the standard as required by the recognition
    criteria. While Education is correct that NACIQI did not discuss this
    concern specifically, it addressed these concerns by affirming Education's
    recommendation to limit ABA's recognition to a period of 18 months.
    Education's comments appear in appendix II.

    The ABA said that the report was generally balanced and fair, and provided
    technical comments and clarifications, which we incorporated as
    appropriate. ABA expressed concern about our statement that it uses
    thresholds on bar passage and attrition rates to prompt further review.
    ABA emphasized that these thresholds are not used to determine whether or
    not a school is in compliance with the accreditation standards. We revised
    our report to clarify this issue. The ABA also provided updated data on
    law school enrollment that was not available to us at the time we
    conducted our briefing. Finally, with respect to the background
    information the report provides on non-ABA approved law schools, the ABA
    said the number of such law schools is much greater than indicated in our
    draft report. Specifically, ABA identified a number of California law
    schools that were not included on the list of non-ABA approved law schools
    that we obtained from the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). While the
    information from LSAC is not exhaustive, it provides the most complete
    source of readily-available data on non-ABA approved law schools.
    Additionally, because graduates of these law schools can sit for the bar
    exam in California, our overall message remains the same--graduates of
    many non-ABA law schools can take the bar exam in the state where they
    earned their degree. ABA's comments appear in appendix III.

    We are sending copies of this report to relevant congressional committees,
    the Secretary of Education, and other interested parties and will make
    copies available to others upon request. In addition, this report will be
    available at no charge on GAO's Web site at www.gao.gov .

    If you or your staff has any questions about this report, please contact
    me at (202) 512-7215 or scottg@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of
    Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page
    of this report. Key contributors to this report include Jeff Appel
    (Assistant Director), Debra Prescott (Analyst-in-Charge), Summer Pachman,
    John Mingus, and Jim Rebbe.

    George A.
    Scott Acting Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security
    Issues

    Appendix I: Briefing Slides

    Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Education

    Appendix III: Comments from the American Bar Association

    (130264)

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