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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 213 (Monday, November 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76194-76196]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24434]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Accrediting Agencies Currently Undergoing Review for the Purpose 
of Recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education

AGENCY: Accreditation Group, Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. 
Department of Education.

ACTION: Call for written third-party comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice provides information to members of the public on 
submitting written comments for accrediting agencies currently 
undergoing review for the purpose of recognition by the U.S. Secretary 
of Education.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Herman Bounds, Director, Accreditation 
Group, Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 
400 Maryland Avenue SW, Fifth Floor, Washington, DC 20202,

[[Page 76195]]

telephone: (202) 453-7615, or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This request for written third-party 
comments concerning the performance of accrediting agencies under 
review by the Secretary of Education is required by 496(n)(1)(A) of the 
Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended, and pertains to the 
winter 2025 meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional 
Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). The meeting date and location have not 
been determined but will be announced in a later Federal Register 
notice. In addition, a later Federal Register notice will describe how 
to register to provide oral comments at the meeting. Note: Written 
comments about the specific agencies identified below will not be 
accepted or provided to NACIQI members if those comments are submitted 
after the deadline provided in this Federal Register notice, which is 
December 8, 2023. Written comments must be submitted to the mailbox 
identified below. Do not submit written comments directly to Department 
officials or to NACIQI members.
    Agencies under Review and Evaluation: The Department requests 
written comments from the public on the following accrediting agencies, 
which are currently undergoing review and evaluation by the 
Accreditation Group, and which will be reviewed at the winter 2025 
NACIQI meeting. The agencies are listed by the type of application or 
report each agency has submitted. Please note, each agency's current 
scope of recognition is indicated below. If any agency requested to 
expand its scope of recognition, identified are both the current scope 
of recognition and the requested scope of recognition.

Compliance Reports

    1. American Occupational Therapy Association, Accreditation Council 
for Occupational Therapy Education. Scope of Recognition: The 
accreditation and preaccreditation of occupational therapy educational 
programs offering the professional master's degree and occupational 
therapy doctorate (OTD) degree; the accreditation of occupational 
therapy assistant programs offering a baccalaureate degree and 
associate degree; and the accreditation of these programs offered via 
distance education. Geographic Area of Accrediting Activities: The 
United States. The compliance report includes findings of noncompliance 
with certain criteria in 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 602 
identified in the October 19, 2022, letter from the senior Department 
official (SDO) following the July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The SDO 
letter is available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents.
    2. Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. Scope of 
Recognition: The preaccreditation and accreditation of CPE Level I/
Level II programs and Certified Educator CPE programs, and the 
accreditation of these programs offered via distance education. 
Geographic Area of Accrediting Activities: The United States. The 
compliance report includes findings of noncompliance with certain 
criteria in 34 CFR part 602 identified in the November 10, 2022, letter 
from the SDO following the July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The SDO 
letter is available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents.
    3. Accrediting Council for Pharmacy Education. Scope of 
Recognition: The accreditation and pre-accreditation of professional 
degree programs in pharmacy leading to the degree of Doctor of 
Pharmacy, including those programs offered via distance education. 
Geographic Area of Accrediting Activities: The United States. The 
compliance report includes findings of noncompliance with certain 
criteria in 34 CFR part 602 identified in the November 7, 2022, letter 
from the SDO following the July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The SDO 
letter is available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents.
    4. Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools. Scope of 
Recognition: The accreditation of institutions with postsecondary, non-
degree granting career and technology programs, to include the 
accreditation of postsecondary, non-degree granting institutions that 
offer all or part of their educational programs via distance education 
modalities. Geographic Area of Accrediting Activities: The United 
States. The compliance report includes findings of noncompliance with 
certain criteria in 34 CFR part 602 identified in the October 19, 2022, 
letter from the SDO following the July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The 
SDO letter is available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents.
    5. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on 
Colleges. Scope of Recognition: The accreditation and pre-accreditation 
(``Candidate for Accreditation'') of degree-granting institutions of 
higher education in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, 
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and 
Virginia, including the accreditation of educational programs offered 
via distance and correspondence education, and direct assessment within 
these institutions. The accreditation status of these institutions and 
their recognition extends to the SACSCOC Board of Trustees, Executive 
Council, and the Appeals Committee of the Collegiate College Delegate 
Assembly on cases of initial candidacy or initial accreditation and for 
continued accreditation or candidacy. The compliance report includes 
findings of noncompliance with certain criteria in 34 CFR part 602 
identified in the November 7, 2022, letter from the SDO following the 
July 19, 2022, NACIQI meeting. The SDO letter is available under NACIQI 
meeting date 7/19/2022, at https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents.

Submission of Written Comments Regarding a Specific Accrediting Agency 
Under Review

    Written comments about the recognition of any of the accrediting 
agencies listed above must be received by December 8, 2023, in the 
[email protected] mailbox. Please include in the subject line 
``Written Comments: (agency name).'' The electronic mail (email) must 
include the name(s), title, organization/affiliation, mailing address, 
email address, and telephone number of the person(s) making the 
comment. Comments should be submitted as a PDF, Microsoft Word document 
or in a medium compatible with Microsoft Word that is attached to an 
email or provided in the body of an email message. Comments about an 
agency that has submitted a compliance report scheduled for review by 
the Department must relate to the criteria for recognition cited in the 
SDO letter that requested the compliance report following the July 19, 
2022, NACIQI meeting, or in the Secretary's appeal decision, if any. 
The SDO letters for the specific agencies referenced in this Federal 
Register notice are available under NACIQI meeting date 7/19/2022, at 
https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/erecognition/#/public-documents.
    Only written materials submitted by the deadline to the email 
address listed in this notice, and in accordance with these 
instructions, become part of the official record concerning agencies 
scheduled for review and are considered by the Department and NACIQI in 
their deliberations. Written comments about the specific agencies 
identified in this

[[Page 76196]]

Federal Register notice that are submitted after the deadline will not 
be considered by the Department or provided to NACIQI for purposes of 
the current review. However, comments may be provided orally at the 
winter 2025 NACIQI meeting, which has not yet been scheduled, but which 
will be announced in a future Federal Register notice.
    Electronic Access to this Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free 
internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the 
Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System 
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site, you can view this document, as 
well as all other documents of the Department published in the Federal 
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF, 
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the 
site. You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.
    Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1011c; 20 U.S.C. 1099b.

Nasser Paydar,
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2023-24434 Filed 11-3-23; 8:45 am]
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