DeVos reinstated for-profit college accreditor despite staff objections, report shows

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos earlier this year reinstated an accreditor of for-profit colleges despite findings by her agency’s career staff that the organization failed to meet federal standards, an internal document shows.

The report, released by the Education Department on Friday in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, shows that career department analysts had serious concerns about restoring the federal recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools just a month before DeVos issued an order reinstating the accreditor’s federal status.

Career analysts wrote in the report that ACICS failed to meet 57 of the 93 criteria that accreditors are required to meet under federal law. The Obama administration’s termination of ACICS in 2016 was based on its findings that the accreditor had not followed 21 of the standards, though its review was more limited in scope.

The March 2018 report — known as a “draft staff analysis” — concluded that the Trump administration should not reinstate ACICS.

A month later, in April, DeVos restored the federal powers of ACICS after a federal judge ruled that the Obama administration illegally failed to consider relevant evidence in its 2016 decision to terminate the accreditor. DeVos reinstated the accreditor while she makes a longer-term decision on its fate.


https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/09/devos-for-profit-college-accreditor-report-611935