Monday, July 30, 2018

Trump dump

DeVos to Announce New Push for Deregulation, Innovation
(Inside Higher Ed)
     Top Education Department official describes plan to "rethink" higher-education standards through new rule-making process, to be announced today, on accreditation, the credit hour standard, the faculty role online and more.
     The Trump administration says it wants more innovation in higher education. And it believes rewriting the rules for college accrediting agencies is the best way to encourage innovation.
     In an exclusive interview with Inside Higher Ed, the administration's top higher education official described the philosophy behind the latest proposed regulatory overhaul, which the U.S. Department of Education unveiled Monday by introducing a wide-reaching rule-making session.
     The changes the department is mulling give the clearest sign so far of an affirmative higher education agenda from the Trump administration, which in its first 18 months has focused on blocking or watering down key Obama administration initiatives. The proposals could have far-reaching effects on the educational models colleges pursue, as well as for noncollege education providers.
     Diane Auer Jones, the department's principal deputy under secretary, delegated to perform the duties of under secretary and assistant secretary for postsecondary education, said the administration's goal is to reduce compliance requirements for accreditors, freeing them up to focus on educational quality while more clearly defining the college oversight roles of those agencies, state governments and federal regulators. The broad plan from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to "rethink" higher education is a stark contrast to the Obama administration's approach, which made a signature policy of tougher scrutiny of accreditors, often citing oversight failures involving low-performing for-profit colleges.
     “Accreditation is right at the crux of almost everything you do in higher ed,” Jones said last week. “We’re looking at every aspect of accreditation and saying, ‘Does this make sense?’”
     In what will be the one of the most controversial proposals, she said the department wants to drop a standardized definition for academic course work, known as the credit hour, that the Obama administration rewrote in 2010 to curb credit inflation. The rule-making session also will feature a re-examination of requirements for online education, including faculty interaction and state authorization rules. In addition, Jones said, negotiators will be tasked with evaluating rules for competency-based education and the outsourcing of academic programs to nonaccredited providers and considering changes to the federal aid eligibility of religious institutions….

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Something good (better) might come from this but I doubt it.

The old system was filled with problems that derailed some college and university programs. Having served on university and college Accreditation teams and also on college accreditation committees, I find many difficulties have been made by federal oversight groups.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...