Quality Higher Education Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.5103 | Sponsor: Rep. Wilson, Frederica S. (D-FL)
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Quality Higher Education Act of 2021
This bill revises the accreditation standards under which an accrediting agency or association must assess an institution of higher education (IHE), and it requires the Department of Education to establish procedures for an agency or association to follow when an IHE fails to meet these standards.
An accrediting agency or association must measure an IHE's success in student achievement against at least one standard each in the categories of completion, workforce participation, and progress toward meeting such completion and workforce participation standards. An agency or association must also make certain information such as student achievement standards and IHE performance benchmarks available on a publicly accessible website.
Additionally, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity must evaluate the effectiveness of the revised standards and compare similar accrediting agencies or associations based on their assessments of IHEs.

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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Quality Higher Education Act of 
2021''.

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 consequences each 
        accrediting agency or association shall follow when any 
        institution of higher education subject to the jurisdiction of 
        such agency or association fails to meet the accreditation 
        standards selected 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 definition 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 standards 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).
                    (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 Association.--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 subparagraphs (A) 
                through (J) and inserting the following:
                    ``(A) success with respect to student achievement 
                in relation to the institution's mission (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 association 
                        from a list of options for such standards 
                        established and defined by the Secretary under 
                        section 2(a) of the Quality Higher Education 
                        Act of 2021 for each of the following domains--
                                    ``(I) completion;
                                    ``(II) workforce participation; and
                                    ``(III) measures that assess 
                                progress toward meeting the completion 
                                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 association, except 
                        that--
                                    ``(I) each standard selected for a 
                                peer group of institutions shall be the 
                                same standard for, and shall be applied 
                                consistently to, all the institutions 
                                in the peer group; and
                                    ``(II) such a peer group of 
                                institutions cannot be based solely 
                                on--
                                            ``(aa) the demographic 
                                        characteristics of the students 
                                        attending such institutions; or
                                            ``(bb) the sector of the 
                                        institution (including whether 
                                        the institution is a public 
                                        institution, a proprietary 
                                        institution, or a nonprofit 
                                        institution);
                            ``(iii) shall be assessed using a single 
                        performance benchmark established by the agency 
                        or association for each standard selected under 
                        clause (i), which shall be the same performance 
                        benchmark for all institutions 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 
                        programs (as defined in section 435(a)(9)(E)) 
                        offered by institutions, as long as the 
                        performance 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 
                        defined in section 101(a), may include 
                        consideration 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 
                                provided in the geographic area;
                    ``(B) student achievement outcomes and program 
                outcomes disaggregated by the subgroups 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 credentials;
                    ``(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 governance) as 
                appropriate to the specified scale of operations;'';
                    (B) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through (8) as 
                paragraphs (7) through (9), respectively; and
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:
            ``(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 institutions, the rationale for the 
                selection of such standards, and how such standards are 
                factored into the accreditation process;
                    ``(C) the performance benchmark established for 
                each standard selected by the agency or association 
                under paragraph (5) and the rationale for the 
                establishment of such performance 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: ``Except as 
        otherwise specified in subsection (a)(5)(A) and section 2(a) of 
        the Quality Higher Education Act of 2021, nothing in'';
            (3) in subsection (o), in the second sentence, by striking 
        ``Notwithstanding'' and inserting the following: ``Except as 
        otherwise provided in subsection (a)(5)(A) and section 2(a) of 
        the Quality Higher Education Act of 2021 and notwithstanding'';
            (4) in subsection (p), by striking ``Nothing'' and 
        inserting ``Except as otherwise provided in subsection 
        (a)(5)(A) and section 2(a) of the Quality Higher Education Act 
        of 2021, 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 sector to which 
                the institutions being evaluated belong, based on the 
                performance benchmarks and standards used in subsection 
                (a)(5)(A) by such agencies and associations.
            ``(2) Accreditor standards.--The Secretary may require an 
        accrediting agency or association to review and revise the 
        standards selected, or the performance benchmarks established, 
        by such agency or association, if the Secretary determines that 
        the standards are not appropriate for the peer group of 
        institutions for which such standards were selected, or that 
        the performance benchmarks for standards for the domains listed 
        in subsection (a)(5)(A)(i) are too low.''.
                                 <all>