Accreditation Reform Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5768 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to protect students and tax- payers by modernizing evaluation and increasing transparency in the accreditation system, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 6, 2020 Mrs. TRAHAN (for herself, Ms. DEAN, and Mrs. HAYES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to protect students and taxpayers by modernizing evaluation and increasing transparency in the accreditation system, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accreditation Reform 4 Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5768.IH H5768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5768 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON INSTITU- 1 TIONAL QUALITY AND INTEGRITY. 2 Paragraph (1) of section 114(c) of the Higher Edu- 3 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011c(c)) is amended to 4 read as follows: 5 ‘‘(1) advise the Secretary with respect to— 6 ‘‘(A) the establishment and enforcement of 7 the standards of accrediting agencies or asso- 8 ciations under subpart 2 of part H of title IV 9 and how such standards relate to programs 10 under such title; 11 ‘‘(B) participation in Federal recognition 12 reviews (including on-site inspections and re- 13 views of institutions of higher education and 14 unannounced site visits) of accrediting agencies 15 or associations, including through document re- 16 quests that are considered part of the petitions 17 for recognition of such accrediting agencies or 18 associations under section 496; and 19 ‘‘(C) whether to recognize an accrediting 20 agency or association under section 496;’’. 21 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT EVALUATION OF ACCREDITATION 22 SYSTEM. 23 Section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 24 U.S.C. 1099b) is amended— 25 (1) in subsection (n)(1)— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5768.IH H5768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5768 IH (A) in the matter before subparagraph (A), 1 by inserting ‘‘and data and evidence compiled 2 by the Department of Education’’ before the 3 second period; 4 (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 5 and (B) as subparagraphs (B) and (C), respec- 6 tively; 7 (C) by inserting before subparagraph (B), 8 as redesignated by subparagraph (B), the fol- 9 lowing: 10 ‘‘(A) prior to the solicitation of third-party 11 information concerning the performance of the 12 accrediting agency or association under sub- 13 paragraph (B), the public comments received by 14 the Secretary pursuant to subsection (r)(1) with 15 respect to the petition of the accrediting agency 16 or association to be recognized under this sec- 17 tion;’’; 18 (D) in subparagraph (C), as redesignated 19 by subparagraph (B), by striking the period at 20 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 21 (E) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(D) any data the Department of Edu- 23 cation has previously collected with respect to 24 the performance of the institutions of higher 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5768.IH H5768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5768 IH education that the accrediting agency or asso- 1 ciation accredits, including— 2 ‘‘(i) any action taken by the accred- 3 iting agency or association to limit an in- 4 stitution of higher education, such as re- 5 strictions on enrollment or other sub- 6 stantive changes; 7 ‘‘(ii) any action taken by an accred- 8 iting agency or association to address the 9 retention, course completion, or graduation 10 rates of an institution of higher education; 11 ‘‘(iii) student achievement data at 12 such institutions of higher education; 13 ‘‘(iv) findings under completed pro- 14 gram and audit reviews of such institutions 15 of higher education; and 16 ‘‘(v) a record of such institutions of 17 higher education that fail to meet the fi- 18 nancial responsibility requirements under 19 section 486(d)(2)(C)(i); 20 ‘‘(E) a summary record of other actions 21 (including initial and reaffirmations of accredi- 22 tation, substantive changes, monitoring, warn- 23 ing, probation, show cause, or limits placed on 24 an institution of higher education accredited by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5768.IH H5768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5768 IH the accrediting agency or association, such as 1 limits on enrollment) taken by the accrediting 2 agency or association and an explanation for 3 such actions; and 4 ‘‘(F) conducted at least once annually, an 5 enhanced review of the standards of any accred- 6 iting agency or association that accredited an 7 institution of higher education— 8 ‘‘(i) which was the subject of an inves- 9 tigation, settlement, or adverse judgement 10 by a Federal or State authority for a viola- 11 tion pertaining to fraud or abuse, deceptive 12 practices, or material harm to students en- 13 rolled or previously enrolled at such insti- 14 tution of higher education; or 15 ‘‘(ii) that closed without a teach-out 16 agreement.’’; 17 (2) in subsection (o), by inserting ‘‘(including 18 limitations on accrediting agencies or associations)’’ 19 before ‘‘and for the appeal’’; and 20 (3) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(r) TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS.— 22 ‘‘(1) NOTICE AND COMMENT.—The Secretary 23 shall, with respect to each petition made by an ac- 24 crediting agency or association to receive recognition 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5768.IH H5768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5768 IH under this section, make publicly available on the 1 website of the Department of Education for pur- 2 poses of public notice and comment, the following: 3 ‘‘(A) Such petition. 4 ‘‘(B) With respect to each institution of 5 higher education accredited by the accrediting 6 agency or association that made such petition, 7 a record of student complaints received by, or 8 available to, such accrediting agency or associa- 9 tion. 10 ‘‘(C) A record of investigations, lawsuits, 11 settlements, or adverse judgments by a Federal 12 or State authority for a violation relating to 13 fraud or abuse, deceptive practices, or material 14 harm to students enrolled or previously enrolled 15 at each institution of higher education accred- 16 ited by such accrediting agency or association. 17 ‘‘(D) Any negative action against an insti- 18 tution of higher education accredited by such 19 accrediting agency or association. 20 ‘‘(E) Any documents of such accrediting 21 agency or association requested by the Sec- 22 retary for purposes of review by the National 23 Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality 24 and Integrity under section 114. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5768.IH H5768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5768 IH ‘‘(F) Such other information as the Sec- 1 retary determines appropriate. 2 ‘‘(2) ACCREDITING AGENCY OR ASSOCIATION 3 DOCUMENTS.—The Secretary shall establish and 4 maintain on the website of the Department of Edu- 5 cation the following: 6 ‘‘(A) All final documents produced in an 7 accrediting agency or association review of in- 8 stitutions of higher education accredited by 9 such accrediting agency or association, includ- 10 ing on-site inspection and unannounced site 11 visit reports, substantive change reviews and 12 decisions, decision letters, and all other final 13 documents that the Secretary determines appro- 14 priate. 15 ‘‘(B) All final documents produced by the 16 Secretary in determining whether an accrediting 17 agency or association is recognized under this 18 section, including— 19 ‘‘(i) a summary of any deficiencies 20 found with respect to such an accrediting 21 agency or association; and 22 ‘‘(ii) the rationale for recognition or 23 denial of such an accrediting agency or as- 24 sociation. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5768.IH H5768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5768 IH ‘‘(C) Aggregate outcome data for institu- 1 tions of higher education accredited by each ac- 2 crediting agency or association.’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Feb 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5768.IH H5768 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS