- Winners of the 2026 Bellwether Award
- ED guidance for recognizing new accreditors
Winners of the 2026 Bellwether Award
Three community colleges are winners of the 2026 Bellwether Award, which annually recognizes outstanding and innovative community college programs.
SUNY Orange, Marion Technical College and Merced College received top honors this year. The Bellwether College Consortium, which is located and supported by the Alamo Colleges District (Texas), administers the awards. It received 114 applications for this year’s award. The award program was established in 1995.
“These exceptionally impactful models include a faculty-led math placement and pathways program, a strategic partnership between a technical college and state college to improve student success, and an industry-aligned training model to advance student access to high-wage careers in agricultural technology,” said Rose Martinez, the consortium’s director.
The award recipients by category are:
Instructional Programs and Services — SUNY Orange (New York): The program “From Remediation to Momentum: Rethinking Math Placement and Pathways” replaced standardized math placement tests with guided self-placement using student self-reports, confidence surveys and growth-mindset strategies, according to a release from the consortium. Combined with redesigned developmental curriculum and co-requisite support, the reform increased gateway course enrollment, stabilized success rates and reduced outcome gaps.
Planning, Governance and Finance — Marion Technical College (Ohio): “Growth through Grants” is a partnership between Marion Technical College and Columbus State Community College that leverages strategic funding and institutional collaboration to expand innovation and improve student success outcomes.
Workforce Development — Merced College (California): “AgTEC at Merced: Growing Talent, Driving Innovation” integrates its Ag Innovation Center, AgTEC Workforce Initiative, a farm-focused venture capital fund and a 100-acre instructional farm into a workforce ecosystem.
ED guidance for recognizing new accreditors
The U.S. Education Department (ED) last week released new guidance on the process for new accreditors to gain federal recognition.
In the new interpretive rule, ED says that aspiring accreditors can seek recognition only two years after filing for incorporation and completing another “accrediting activity.” Applicable activities may include, in addition to others, adopting accreditation standards, granting or denying accreditation or pre-accreditation, conducting a site visit, adopting operating procedures, or establishing a process to accept applications for accreditation.
Accreditation reform is a top priority for the Trump administration. In April, the president signed an executive order on reforming higher education accreditation that sought to prohibit federally recognized accreditors from engaging in behavior that the administration associates with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The order also instructed the the education secretary to take steps to “realign accreditation” to promote the approval of new accreditors, streamline the process for institutions to switch accreditors, and develop an experiment for alternative accreditation procedures for innovative high-quality programs.
Following this order:
- The department’s Office of Federal Student Aid announced a new process for colleges to switch institutional accreditors.
- Education Secretary Linda McMahon appointed a new slate of reform-minded members to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which advises the federal government on accreditation issues.
- ED announced a new Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education grant program to support efforts to promote accreditation reform and help institutions change accreditors.
- ED proposed modifying the federal accreditation handbook that guides the agency process.
- And most significantly, the department announced a forthcoming negotiated rulemaking to reform the accreditation system.