A High-Stakes Moment: Accreditation, the Federal Government and Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act - Judith Eaton, Huffington Post

We have reached a point where federal involvement in judging quality is decisive about the academic functions of colleges and universities: curriculum, credit hours, transfer, online learning. Government is telling accreditors what counts as quality and directly managing accreditation's operation too. Will this reauthorization bring a ministry of education into our midst? This is indeed a high-stakes question. To better understand the high-stakes moment, we need only to listen to what lawmakers tell us they want from accreditation -- and are not getting. We need only to examine recent efforts at legislation and regulation affecting colleges, universities and accrediting organizations. While some lawmakers acknowledge that accreditation has some strength and value, these same officials move quickly to make explicit their criticisms and disappointment. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judith-eaton/a-high-stakes-moment_b_5267419.html