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 H5768kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
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 H5768kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
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 H5768kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
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 H5768kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
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 H5768kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
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 H5768kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
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 H5768kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
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 H5768kjo
hn
so
n
on
D
S
K
79
L0
C
42
P
R
O
D
w
ith
B
IL
LS
<<
/ASCII85EncodePages false
/AllowTransparency false
/AutoPositionEPSFiles true
/AutoRotatePages /None
/Binding /Left
/CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%)
/CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
/CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2)
/sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
/CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Error
/CompatibilityLevel 1.4
/CompressObjects /Off
/CompressPages true
/ConvertImagesToIndexed true
/PassThroughJPEGImages true
/CreateJobTicket false
/DefaultRenderingIntent /Default
/DetectBlends true
/DetectCurves 0.0000
/ColorConversionStrategy /LeaveColorUnchanged
/DoThumbnails false
/EmbedAllFonts true
/EmbedOpenType false
/ParseICCProfilesInComments true
/EmbedJobOptions true
/DSCReportingLevel 0
/EmitDSCWarnings false
/EndPage -1
/ImageMemory 1048576
/LockDistillerParams true
/MaxSubsetPct 100
/Optimize false
/OPM 1
/ParseDSCComments true
/ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true
/PreserveCopyPage true
/PreserveDICMYKValues true
/PreserveEPSInfo true
/PreserveFlatness true
/PreserveHalftoneInfo false
/PreserveOPIComments true
/PreserveOverprintSettings true
/StartPage 1
/SubsetFonts false
/TransferFunctionInfo /Preserve
/UCRandBGInfo /Preserve
/UsePrologue true
/ColorSettingsFile ()
/AlwaysEmbed [ true
]
/NeverEmbed [ true
]
/AntiAliasColorImages false
/CropColorImages true
/ColorImageMinResolution 300
/ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
/DownsampleColorImages false
/ColorImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
/ColorImageResolution 300
/ColorImageDepth 8
/ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1
/ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
/EncodeColorImages true
/ColorImageFilter /FlateEncode
/AutoFilterColorImages false
/ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
/ColorACSImageDict <<
/QFactor 0.15
/HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
>>
/ColorImageDict <<
/QFactor 0.15
/HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
>>
/JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict <<
/TileWidth 256
/TileHeight 256
/Quality 30
>>
/JPEG2000ColorImageDict <<
/TileWidth 256
/TileHeight 256
/Quality 30
>>
/AntiAliasGrayImages false
/CropGrayImages true
/GrayImageMinResolution 300
/GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
/DownsampleGrayImages false
/GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
/GrayImageResolution 300
/GrayImageDepth 8
/GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2
/GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
/EncodeGrayImages true
/GrayImageFilter /FlateEncode
/AutoFilterGrayImages false
/GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
/GrayACSImageDict <<
/QFactor 0.15
/HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
>>
/GrayImageDict <<
/QFactor 0.15
/HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
>>
/JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict <<
/TileWidth 256
/TileHeight 256
/Quality 30
>>
/JPEG2000GrayImageDict <<
/TileWidth 256
/TileHeight 256
/Quality 30
>>
/AntiAliasMonoImages false
/CropMonoImages true
/MonoImageMinResolution 1200
/MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
/DownsampleMonoImages false
/MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
/MonoImageResolution 1200
/MonoImageDepth -1
/MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
/EncodeMonoImages true
/MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode
/MonoImageDict <<
/K -1
>>
/AllowPSXObjects false
/CheckCompliance [
/None
]
/PDFX1aCheck true
/PDFX3Check false
/PDFXCompliantPDFOnly true
/PDFXNoTrimBoxError false
/PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [
0.00000
0.00000
0.00000
0.00000
]
/PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true
/PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [
0.00000
0.00000
0.00000
0.00000
]
/PDFXOutputIntentProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2)
/PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier (CGATS TR 001)
/PDFXOutputCondition ()
/PDFXRegistryName (http://www.color.org)
/PDFXTrapped /False
/CreateJDFFile false
/Description <<
/ARA
/BGR
/CHS
/CHT
/CZE
/DAN
/DEU
/ESP
/ETI
/FRA
/GRE
/HEB
/HRV
/HUN
/ITA (Utilizzare queste impostazioni per creare documenti Adobe PDF che devono essere conformi o verificati in base a PDF/X-1a:2001, uno standard ISO per lo scambio di contenuto grafico. Per ulteriori informazioni sulla creazione di documenti PDF compatibili con PDF/X-1a, consultare la Guida dell'utente di Acrobat. I documenti PDF creati possono essere aperti con Acrobat e Adobe Reader 4.0 e versioni successive.)
/JPN
/KOR
/LTH
/LVI
/NLD (Gebruik deze instellingen om Adobe PDF-documenten te maken die moeten worden gecontroleerd of moeten voldoen aan PDF/X-1a:2001, een ISO-standaard voor het uitwisselen van grafische gegevens. Raadpleeg de gebruikershandleiding van Acrobat voor meer informatie over het maken van PDF-documenten die compatibel zijn met PDF/X-1a. De gemaakte PDF-documenten kunnen worden geopend met Acrobat en Adobe Reader 4.0 en hoger.)
/NOR
/POL
/PTB
/RUM
/RUS
/SKY
/SLV
/SUO
/SVE
/TUR
/UKR
/ENU (Use these settings to create Adobe PDF documents that are to be checked or must conform to PDF/X-1a:2001, an ISO standard for graphic content exchange. For more information on creating PDF/X-1a compliant PDF documents, please refer to the Acrobat User Guide. Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 4.0 and later.)
>>
/Namespace [
(Adobe)
(Common)
(1.0)
]
/OtherNamespaces [
<<
/AsReaderSpreads false
/CropImagesToFrames true
/ErrorControl /WarnAndContinue
/FlattenerIgnoreSpreadOverrides false
/IncludeGuidesGrids false
/IncludeNonPrinting false
/IncludeSlug false
/Namespace [
(Adobe)
(InDesign)
(4.0)
]
/OmitPlacedBitmaps false
/OmitPlacedEPS false
/OmitPlacedPDF false
/SimulateOverprint /Legacy
>>
<<
/AddBleedMarks false
/AddColorBars false
/AddCropMarks false
/AddPageInfo false
/AddRegMarks false
/ConvertColors /ConvertToCMYK
/DestinationProfileName ()
/DestinationProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK
/Downsample16BitImages true
/FlattenerPreset <<
/PresetSelector /HighResolution
>>
/FormElements false
/GenerateStructure false
/IncludeBookmarks false
/IncludeHyperlinks false
/IncludeInteractive false
/IncludeLayers false
/IncludeProfiles false
/MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings
/Namespace [
(Adobe)
(CreativeSuite)
(2.0)
]
/PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK
/PreserveEditing true
/UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged
/UntaggedRGBHandling /UseDocumentProfile
/UseDocumentBleed false
>>
]
>> setdistillerparams
<<
/HWResolution [2400 2400]
/PageSize [612.000 792.000]
>> setpagedevice
Superintendent of Documents
2020-02-08T04:58:50-0500
US GPO, Washington, DC 20401
Superintendent of Documents
GPO attests that this document has not been altered since it was disseminated by GPO