I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4579 
To require the Secretary of Education to initiate a negotiated rulemaking 
process with respect to when an institution of higher education fails 
to meet accreditation standards, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 
Ms. WILSON of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Education to initiate a negotiated 
rulemaking process with respect to when an institution 
of higher education fails to meet accreditation standards, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Quality Higher Edu-
cation Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. RULEMAKING REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCREDITING 
AGENCY RECOGNITION. 
(a) RULEMAKING.—The Secretary of Education shall 
initiate a negotiated rulemaking process to— 
(1) establish a common set of steps or con-
sequences each accrediting agency or association 
shall follow when any institution of higher education 
subject to the jurisdiction of such agency or associa-
tion fails to meet the accreditation standards se-
lected or set by such agency or association pursuant 
to section 496(a)(5) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)(5)), as amended by this 
section; and 
(2) establish the list of standards (and a defini-
tion for each such standard) that shall be used by 
each accrediting agency or association for purposes 
of section 496(a)(5)(A) of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)(5)(A)) for each of the 
following domains: 
(A) Completion (which may include stand-
ards on graduation rates or rates of transfer 
from a 2-year to a 4-year institution). 
(B) Workforce participation (which may 
include standards on rates of licensure, job 
placement, or employment). 
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(C) Measures that assess the progress of 
an institution toward meeting the standards for 
completion and workforce participation (which 
may include standards on retention rates and 
persistence rates). 
(b) RECOGNITION OF ACCREDITING AGENCY OR AS-
SOCIATION.—Section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking subpara-
graphs (A) through (J) and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(A) success with respect to student 
achievement in relation to the institution’s mis-
sion (except that the agencies and associations 
described in paragraph (2)(A)(ii) shall not be 
subject to this subparagraph), which— 
‘‘(i) shall be assessed using at least 1 
standard selected by the agency or associa-
tion from a list of options for such stand-
ards established and defined by the Sec-
retary under section 2(a) of the Quality 
Higher Education Act of 2019 for each of 
the following domains— 
‘‘(I) completion; 
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‘‘(II) workforce participation; and 
‘‘(III) 
measures 
that 
assess 
progress toward meeting the comple-
tion 
and 
workforce 
participation 
standards; 
‘‘(ii) may be assessed using different 
standards selected under clause (i) for 
each peer group of institutions, as such 
groups are defined by the agency or asso-
ciation, except that— 
‘‘(I) each standard selected for a 
peer group of institutions shall be the 
same standard for, and shall be ap-
plied consistently to, all the institu-
tions in the peer group; and 
‘‘(II) such a peer group of insti-
tutions cannot be based solely on— 
‘‘(aa) the demographic char-
acteristics of the students attend-
ing such institutions; or 
‘‘(bb) the sector of the insti-
tution (including whether the in-
stitution is a public institution, a 
proprietary institution, or a non-
profit institution); 
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‘‘(iii) shall be assessed using a single 
performance benchmark established by the 
agency or association for each standard se-
lected under clause (i), which shall be the 
same performance benchmark for all insti-
tutions for the standard for which the 
benchmark is established (without regard 
to the peer group of an institution), except 
that such a performance benchmark may 
differ for each category of educational pro-
grams (as defined in section 435(a)(9)(E)) 
offered by institutions, as long as the per-
formance benchmark for any such category 
is the same performance benchmark for all 
institutions (without regard to the peer 
group of an institution); and 
‘‘(iv) in the case of an institution de-
fined in section 101(a), may include con-
sideration of— 
‘‘(I) the historical significance of 
the institution; and 
‘‘(II) whether the institution is 
one of the only physical locations at 
which postsecondary education is pro-
vided in the geographic area; 
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‘‘(B) student achievement outcomes and 
program outcomes disaggregated by the sub-
groups specified in section 153(a)(3)(A) of the 
Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 
U.S.C. 9543(a)(3)(A)); 
‘‘(C) credentials, as measured by the value 
of such credentials to the earners of such cre-
dentials; 
‘‘(D) curricula, including program length, 
course sequencing, and objectives related to 
credentialing; 
‘‘(E) faculty; 
‘‘(F) student support services; 
‘‘(G) recruiting and admissions practices, 
academic calendars, catalogues, publications, 
and grading; and 
‘‘(H) fiscal and administrative capacity 
(which shall include the institution’s govern-
ance) as appropriate to the specified scale of 
operations;’’; 
(B) 
by 
redesignating 
paragraphs 
(6) 
through (8) as paragraphs (7) through (9), re-
spectively; and 
(C) by inserting after paragraph (5) the 
following: 
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‘‘(6) such agency or association shall make 
available on a publicly accessible website, up-to-date 
information on— 
‘‘(A) the institutions in each peer group of 
institutions that are subject to the jurisdiction 
of such agency or association; 
‘‘(B) the student achievement standards 
selected by the agency or association under 
paragraph (5) for each peer group of institu-
tions, the rationale for the selection of such 
standards, and how such standards are factored 
into the accreditation process; 
‘‘(C) the performance benchmark estab-
lished for each standard selected by the agency 
or association under paragraph (5) and the ra-
tionale for the establishment of such perform-
ance benchmark; 
‘‘(D) the institutions that failed to meet 
such standards; and 
‘‘(E) any sanction, adverse action, or other 
action taken with respect to an institution and 
the reason for such sanction or adverse action; 
and’’; 
(2) in subsection (g), in the last sentence, by 
striking ‘‘Nothing in’’ and inserting the following: 
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‘‘Except 
as 
otherwise 
specified 
in 
subsection 
(a)(5)(A) and section 2(a) of the Quality Higher 
Education Act of 2019, nothing in’’; 
(3) in subsection (o), in the second sentence, by 
striking ‘‘Notwithstanding’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: ‘‘Except as otherwise provided in subsection 
(a)(5)(A) and section 2(a) of the Quality Higher 
Education Act of 2019 and notwithstanding’’; 
(4) in subsection (p), by striking ‘‘Nothing’’ 
and inserting ‘‘Except as otherwise provided in sub-
section (a)(5)(A) and section 2(a) of the Quality 
Higher Education Act of 2019, nothing’’; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(r) EVALUATION OF QUALITY AND ACHIEVEMENT 
MEASURES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall direct 
the National Advisory Committee on Institutional 
Quality and Integrity to— 
‘‘(A) regularly evaluate the effectiveness of 
the performance benchmarks established and 
standards selected by accrediting agencies and 
associations under subsection (a)(5)(A); and 
‘‘(B) compare similarly situated accrediting 
agencies or associations, whose similarity may 
not be determined solely by the educational sec-
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