US Dept of Ed Inspector General Issues Critical Audit on CBE Review Process - Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General has issued a critical audit on the review process that the Higher Learning Commission, the largest regional accreditor, undertook while considering colleges’ proposals for new competency-based credentials. The audit builds on similar concerns the inspector general raised last year. “We recommend that the assistant secretary require the Higher Learning Commission to reevaluate competency-based education programs previously proposed by schools to determine whether interaction between faculty and students will be regular and substantive,” the report said, “and, if not, determine whether the programs should have been classified as correspondence programs.” It could have a chilling effect on competency-based education's growth, said experts and advocates for such programs. A spokesman for the Higher Learning Commission said the accreditor respects the work of the inspector general, and is working to respond to the audit. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/05/us-inspector-general-criticizes-accreditor-over-competency-based-education