Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 16 / Wednesday, January 24, 2018 / Notices 3335 

public comment addressing the 

following issues: (1) Is this collection 

necessary to the proper functions of the 

Department; (2) will this information be 

processed and used in a timely manner; 

(3) is the estimate of burden accurate; 

(4) how might the Department enhance 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and (5) how 

might the Department minimize the 

burden of this collection on the 

respondents, including through the use 

of information technology. Please note 

that written comments received in 

response to this notice will be 

considered public records. 

Title of Collection: Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) Third Party 

Perjury Form. 

OMB Control Number: 1880–0545. 

Type of Review: An extension of an 

existing information collection. 

Respondents/Affected Public: 

Individuals or Households. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 62,000. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Burden Hours: 31,000. 

Abstract: This collection is necessary 

to certify the identity of individuals 

requesting information under the 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and 

Privacy Act (PA). This certification is 

required under 5 U.S.C. Section 552a(b). 

The form is used by Privacy Act 

requesters to obtain personal records via 

regular mail, fax or email. The 

department will use the information to 

help identify first-party or third party 

requesters with same or similar name 

when requesting retrieval of their own 

documents. 

Dated: January 19, 2018. 

Stephanie Valentine, 

Acting Director, Information Collection 

Clearance Division, Office of the Chief Privacy 

Officer, Office of Management. 

[FR Doc. 2018–01233 Filed 1–23–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Office of Postsecondary Education; 

Solicitation of Third-Party Comments 

Concerning the Performance of 

Accrediting Agencies 

AGENCY: Accreditation Group, Office of 

Postsecondary Education, U.S. 

Department of Education. 

ACTION: Call for written third-party 

comments. 

SUMMARY: This notice provides 

information to members of the public on 

submitting written comments for 

accrediting agencies currently 

undergoing review for purposes 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, 

Room 270–01, Washington, DC 20202, 

telephone: (202) 453–7615, or email: 

herman.bounds@ed.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

solicitation of third-party comments 

concerning the performance of 

accrediting agencies under review by 

the Secretary is required by section 

496(n)(1)(A) of the Higher Education 

Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended. These 

accrediting agencies will be on the 

agenda for the Spring 2018 National 

Advisory Committee on Institutional 

Quality and Integrity meeting. The 

meeting date has not been determined, 

but will be announced in a separate 

Federal Register notice. 

Agencies Under Review and 

Evaluation: Below is a list of agencies 

currently undergoing review and 

evaluation by the Accreditation Group, 

including their current and requested 

scopes of recognition: 

Application for Initial Recognition 

1. Accrediting Council for 

Independent Colleges and Schools. 

Requested Scope of Recognition: The 

accreditation of private postsecondary 

institutions offering certificates or 

diplomas, and postsecondary 

institutions offering associate, 

bachelor’s, or master’s degrees in 

programs designed to educate students 

for professional, technical, or 

occupational careers, including those 

that offer those programs via distance 

education. 

Applications for Renewal of 

Recognition 

1. Association of Advanced 

Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools, 

Accreditation Commission. Scope of 

Recognition: The accreditation and 

preaccreditation (‘‘Correspondent’’ and 

‘‘Candidate’’) within the United States 

of advanced rabbinical and Talmudic 

schools. 

2. Academy of Nutrition and 

Dietetics, Accreditation Council for 

Education in Nutrition and Dietetics. 

Scope of Recognition: The accreditation 

and pre-accreditation, within the United 

States, of Didactic and Coordinated 

Programs in Dietetics at both the 

undergraduate and graduate level, postbaccalaureate Dietetic Internships, and 

Dietetic Technician Programs at the 

associate degree level, and for its 

accreditation of such programs offered 

via distance education. 

3. Accreditation Council on 

Optometric Education. Scope of 

Recognition: The accreditation in the 

United States of professional optometric 

degree programs, optometric technician 

(associate degree) programs, and 

optometric residency programs, and for 

the pre-accreditation category of 

Preliminary Approval for professional 

optometric degree programs. 

4. Council on Accreditation of Nurse 

Anesthesia Educational Programs. 

Scope of Recognition: The accreditation 

of institutions and programs of nurse 

anesthesia at the post master’s 

certificate, master’s, or doctoral degree 

levels in the United States, and its 

territories, including programs offering 

distance education. 

5. Liaison Committee on Medical 

Education. Scope of Recognition: The 

accreditation of medical education 

programs within the United States 

leading to the M.D. degree. 

6. Northwest Commission on Colleges 

and Universities. Scope of Recognition: 

The accreditation and preaccreditation 

(‘‘Candidacy Status’’) of postsecondary 

degree-granting educational institutions 

in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, 

Oregon, Utah, and Washington, and the 

accreditation of programs offered via 

distance education within these 

institutions. 

7. National Association of Schools of 

Art and Design. Scope of Recognition: 

For the accreditation throughout the 

United States of freestanding 

institutions and units offering art/design 

and art/design-related programs (both 

degree- and non-degree-granting), 

including those offered via distance 

education. 

Compliance Report 

1. American Psychological 

Association. Compliance report 

includes the following: (1) Findings 

identified in the September 22, 2016 

letter from the senior Department 

official following the June 23, 2016 

NACIQI meeting available at: https://

opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/ 

finalstaffreports.cfm, (2) Review under 

34 CFR 602.19(a), and § 602.20(b). 

Scope of Recognition: The 

accreditation in the United States of 

doctoral programs in clinical, 

counseling, school and combined 

professional-scientific psychology; 

doctoral internship programs in health 

service psychology; and postdoctoral 

residency programs in health service 

psychology. The preaccreditation in the 

United States of doctoral internship 

programs in health service psychology; 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
3336 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 16 / Wednesday, January 24, 2018 / Notices 

and postdoctoral residency programs in 

health service psychology. 

2. American Bar Association 

Compliance report includes the 

following: (1) Findings identified in the 

October 28, 2016 letter from the senior 

Department official following the June 

23, 2016 NACIQI meeting available at: 

https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/ 

finalstaffreports.cfm, (2) Review under 

34 CFR 602.15(a)(1), § 602.15(a)(2), 

§ 602.15(a)(3), § 602.16(a)(1)(viii), and 

§ 602.17(b). 

Scope of Recognition: The 

accreditation throughout the United 

States of programs in legal education 

that lead to the first professional degree 

in law as well as freestanding law 

schools offering such programs. This 

recognition also extends to the 

Accreditation Committee of the Section 

of Legal Education (Accreditation 

Committee) for decisions involving 

continued accreditation (referred to by 

the agency as ‘‘approval’’) of law 

schools. 

3. American Osteopathic Association, 

Commission on Osteopathic College 

Accreditation Compliance report 

includes the following: (1) Findings 

identified in the October 28, 2016 letter 

from the senior Department official 

following the June 23, 2016 NACIQI 

meeting available at: https://

opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/ 

finalstaffreports.cfm, (2) Review under 

34 CFR 602.11, § 602.13, § 602.15(a)(3), 

§ 602.16(a)(1)(i), § 602.16(a)(1)(ii), 

§ 602.16(a)(1)(iii), § 602.16(a)(1)(iv) 

§ 602.16(a)(1)(v), § 602.16(a)(1)(vi), 

§ 602.16(a)(1)(vii) § 602.16(a)(1)(viii) 

§ 602.16(a)(1)(ix) § 602.16(a)(1)(x), 

§ 602.16(a)(2), § 602.17(a), § 602.19(b), 

§ 602.20(a), and § 602.26(b). 

4. Transnational Association Of 

Christian Colleges and Schools 

Compliance report includes the 

following: (1) Findings identified in the 

October 28, 2016 letter from the senior 

Department official following the June 

23, 2016 NACIQI meeting available at: 

https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/ 

finalstaffreports.cfm, (2) Review under 

34 CFR 602.15(a)(2), and § 602.19(b). 

Scope of Recognition: The 

accreditation and preaccreditation 

(‘‘Candidate’’ Status) of Christian 

postsecondary institutions in the United 

States that offer certificates, diplomas, 

and associate, baccalaureate, and 

graduate degrees, including institutions 

that offer distance education. 

Application for an Expansion of Scope 

Association of Advanced Rabbinical 

and Talmudic Schools, Accreditation 

Commission. Scope of Recognition: The 

accreditation and preaccreditation 

(‘‘Correspondent’’ and ‘‘Candidate’’) 

within the United States of advanced 

rabbinical and Talmudic schools. 

Requested Scope: The accreditation of 

advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic 

institutions in the United States which 

grant postsecondary degrees such as 

Associate, Baccalaureate, Masters, 

Doctorate, First Rabbinic and First 

Talmudic degrees. 

Renewal—State Agency for the 

Approval of Public Postsecondary 

Vocational Education 

Puerto Rico State Agency for the 

Approval of Public Postsecondary 

Vocational, Technical Institutions and 

Programs 

Submission of Written Comments 

Regarding a Specific Accrediting 

Agency or State Approval Agency 

Under Review 

Written comments about the 

recognition of a specific accrediting or 

State agency must be received by 

February 16, 2018, in the 

ThirdPartyComments@ed.gov mailbox 

and include the subject line ‘‘Written 

Comments: (agency name).’’ The 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 Microsoft Word 

document or in a medium compatible 

with Microsoft Word (not a PDF file) 

that is attached to an electronic mail 

message (email) or provided in the body 

of an email message. Comments about 

an agency’s recognition after review of 

a compliance report must relate to 

issues identified in the compliance 

report and the criteria for recognition 

cited in the senior Department official’s 

letter that requested the report, or in the 

Secretary’s appeal decision, if any. 

Comments about the renewal of an 

agency’s recognition based on a review 

of the agency’s petition must relate to its 

compliance with the Criteria for the 

Recognition of Accrediting Agencies, or 

the Criteria and Procedures for 

Recognition of State Agencies for 

Approval of Nurse Education as 

appropriate, which are available at 

http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/ 

accred/index.html. 

Only written material 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. 

A later Federal Register Notice will 

describe how to register to provide oral 

comments at the meeting about the 

recognition of a specific accrediting 

agency or State approval agency. 

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 this 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. 

Lynn B. Mahaffie, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning, 

Policy, and Innovation. 

[FR Doc. 2018–01220 Filed 1–23–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

[ED–2018–OII–0003] 

Proposed Waiver and Extension of the 

Project Period; DC Opportunity 

Scholarship Program 

AGENCY: Office of Innovation and 

Improvement, Department of Education. 

ACTION: Proposed waiver and extension 

of the project period. 

SUMMARY: For projects funded under the 

DC Opportunity Scholarship Program 

(OSP), the Secretary proposes to waive 

the requirements of the Education 

Department General Administrative 

Regulations that generally prohibit 

project period extensions involving the 

obligation of additional Federal funds. 

A waiver would allow the three-year 

grant funded with fiscal year (FY) 2015 

funds under the OSP to be continued 

beyond its original project period with 

FY 2018 and FY 2019 funds. 

DATES: The Department must receive 

your comments on or before February 

23, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments 

through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 

or via postal mail, commercial delivery, 

or hand delivery. We will not accept 

comments submitted by fax or by email 

or those submitted after the comment 

period. To ensure that we do not receive 


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