Education Accreditation Under Fire

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which released the report Sept. 30, was co-founded in 1995 by Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney.

The House Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness met Oct. 1 to address the ACTA report and discuss the role of accreditation in post-secondary education, but no conclusion was reached.

The original post-secondary accreditation process was designed a century ago as an optional evaluation to determine which schools met key educational criteria.

The Higher Education Act of 1952 designated six independent regional agencies to handle the accreditation of universities.

In order to receive federal funding for need-based financial aid, colleges and universities must be accredited by one of the regional agencies.

A volunteer committee reviews schools, and if they do not meet criteria, they are given a warning.

If schools still fail to comply, they are put on probation. As a last resort, schools are removed from the accreditation list entirely.

But George Leef, director of higher education policy at ACTA and co-author of the study, said there are flaws with the system.

Leef said the accreditation system does not focus on the overall outcome of students' education and called for the elimination of the program.

The report also suggested a system in which schools were accredited by individual states.

Accreditation agencies often focus more on resources such as libraries and facilities instead of the quality of education students receive, Leef said.

"Many students graduate ... with what you would call an education in name only," he said.

He added that many college students have poor reading, writing and math skills and that a rising number of graduates are taking high-school-level jobs -- a phenomenon Leef attributes to improper accreditation.

But James Rogers, executive director of Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, said Leef's report is flawed.

The association is charged with accrediting Southern institutions from Virginia to Texas -- including schools in North Carolina.

Rogers said that even if the regional accreditation system were eliminated, it would merely be replaced by another one.

He added that allowing each state to have its own accreditation criteria, as suggested in the report, would be a logistical nightmare.

"I didn't see any viable solutions," Rogers said. "You're talking about a major change in structure."

He said the accreditation system has inherent value.

Accreditation helps schools attract students and faculty and ensures the transferability of credits between colleges, Rogers said.

Bernadette Gray-Little, executive associate provost at UNC, also said the accreditation system is an important process to universities.

"Accreditation is seen as necessary for the university because of external bodies," she said. "For most people who have participated in accreditation, the primary benefit is in the self-study the university conducts in preparation for the review."

Rogers also said that the system keeps colleges and universities in check and that the entire higher education community "keeps the pressure" on institutions with sanctions.

But Rogers said the accreditation system can be improved. "We can always do better."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.