Higher learning accreditation has been around for more than a century, but the regional and national bodies that provide it have needed to evolve their processes and standards over time to ensure they stay current with educational, technological and societal changes.
Perhaps the most significant change in recent years was the U.S. Education Department’s (ED) decision in July 2020, at the height of the pandemic, that the regionalized borders accrediting bodies traditionally had maintained were no longer necessary, at a time when online learning has become such a significant part of higher education, including at two-year schools.
This article is an excerpt from the new issue of Community College Journal, the flagship publication of the American Association of Community Colleges.
Other changes in community colleges in recent decades that impact accrediting processes include the proliferation of bachelor’s degree programs and the continued increase in prison education opportunities. As accrediting agencies change their processes and standards to stay abreast, they’re always thinking about how they evaluate — and hopefully raise — the value provided by higher education institutions.
CHEA and ED
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) recognizes several institutional accreditors and highlights the importance of academic integrity and quality. Accrediting bodies also are recognized by ED under the Higher Education Act.
Being recognized by CHEA, and by ED, is a voluntary process. However, the department holds the federal dollars that go to institutions, “so it’s not as optional as we would like for it to be,” says CHEA President Cynthia Jackson-Hammond. “With CHEA, accreditors make the deliberate and intentional effort to be recognized because it solidifies to the public that they are about academic quality in the institutions. … That generates public trust and public confidence in higher education.”
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A common element to both CHEA and ED has been a resurgence of interest around diversity, equity and inclusion, Jackson-Hammond says, noting that six of the seven regional accreditors have promulgated specific expectations for institutions related to DEI.
“CHEA just recently, since 2021, became more pronounced in establishing a written standard that we have an expectation that accrediting organizations will manifest and support DEI within their organization,” she says. “We think that is a real testament to the value of diversity, equity and inclusion, and fairness when it comes to institutional priorities.”
Another broad change has been the ability to rely on a technological management system for processes and standards, rather than paper and telephone calls, Jackson-Hammond says.
“The process is more fluid now, in the sense that much of the information is transmitted electronically, and it’s easier to assess the process and the standards,” she says. “Because of that fluidity and transmitting of information, there’s also a more cohesive relationship between the institution and the accreditor.”
Evolving over time
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) recently went through a lengthy process of reviewing standards to support institutional achievement of equitable outcomes, says Mac Powell, president of the organization.
“Community colleges, in particular, offer a tremendous public good,” he says. “Our new standards focus more on the outcomes of institutions and a bit less on the processes that accreditors have focused on the last few decades. Some processes are important and required to be looked at by federal regulations, but what is most important is how the process of self-evaluation supports student success.”
The commission’s new standards require institutions to share an institutional self-study and a team report — but centrally, to share disaggregated student outcomes data to the public, Powell says.
“We, as accreditors, need to help the public understand what we do, and how institutions can create value and articulate that to students,” he says.
ACCJC knows students attend community colleges for differing reasons, Powell says, which means accreditors need to understand each college’s service area and student population.
“The value is often specific to the reason they attend,” he says. “Community colleges are helping students jumpstart their postsecondary education by achieving credits that can reduce the overall cost of education and propel them more quickly into a career. Secondly, many traditional students are looking to earn a certificate, and use that to either earn a job, or move to a four-year institution.”
Traditionally, regional accreditors like the Wilmington, Delaware-based Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) are required by federal regulation to review their standards on a regular basis, which MSCHE did recently, although President Heather Perfetti says the commission would do so whether or not it was required.
“We recognize that the higher education environment changes,” she says. “We want to ensure that our standards are reflective of the expectations of not just our institutions, but also our constituents: the many individuals, particularly students, who are looking at accreditation as a signal of quality.”
The regular reviews typically don’t result in radical changes to the central expectations, Perfetti says, although the process may shift somewhat. Most of the commission’s work is done through peer evaluation via visiting teams that measure an institution against expectations and make recommendations to a MSCHE committee, which reviews the evidence gathered through documents and interviews, and then makes a recommendation to the commission.
