Focuses on the six regional accrediting associations and their patterns for academic institutions. (Author/PF)

Points to problems in the conceptualization and outcomes of accreditation. Imposes a hierarchy of immediacy on the accrediting agency, the institution seeking accreditation, and the consumers of services of the institutions or their graduates. Evaluates Better Business Bureau, Underwriter's Laboratories, and Standard and Poor's as possible models…

In a series of questions and answers, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation presents the fundamentals of the accreditation process and describes accrediting organizations. Accreditation is a process of external quality review used by higher education to scrutinize colleges, universities, and educational programs for quality assurance and…

Reviews the role that accreditation plays in defining and enforcing the credit-hour measure. Regional accreditation agencies are generally more flexible in terms of defining credit hours than are national agencies, which are more rigid in their expectations. Specialized accrediting agencies usually make the least mention of credit units. (SLD)

Explains the accreditation program of the North Central Association (NCA) and its activities to improve student learning. Discusses the standards of the NCA and how they promote effective schools; changes in accreditation and the association; criteria for school effectiveness; accreditation options including traditional accreditation and outcomes…

Analyzes four issues related to accreditation reform: (1) making institutional improvement a clear expectation of accreditation; (2) assisting students and the public to discriminate among institutions; (3) assisting the public in understanding what assessment can and cannot do; and (4) maintaining the meaning of accreditation in spite of…

Offers excerpts from a guide developed for accreditation visit team members to help the team focus on substantive aspects of the school. Lists evaluation standards, characteristics and practices of good schools and districts, and questions for various subcommittees of the visiting team. (DMM)

In 1997-1998, there were more than 1.3 million enrollments in college-level, credit-granting distance education courses; this is approximately double the almost 754,000 formal enrollments in 1994-1995. The number of courses offered also almost doubled, with the nearly 26,000 distance education courses offered by 2- and 4-year higher education…

This study developed a profile of regionally accredited for-profit institutions of higher education, studying their characteristics, whether there are regional differences in the characteristics of for-profit institutions, and whether there is a business strategy surrounding regional accreditation that suggests it is valued by owners above other…

This directory lists U.S. postsecondary degree-granting institutions degrees whose accreditations are recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and/or the Council of Higher Education Accreditation. Addresses, phone numbers, key personnel, Federal Interagency Commission on Education numbers, degrees offered, and tuition estimates are included…

Four educators agree the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) should ensure quality of teacher education, change and quantify standards, and increase its power. They oppose both NCATE accreditation of state departments of education instead of education programs and standardized teacher preparation programs. (PB)

Discusses the rationale for the action taken in 1974 by the House of Delegates of the American Nurses Association (ANA) which gave authority for accreditation of continuing education by ANA. (JOW)

Provides lists of postsecondary institutions accredited by the North Central Association and of candidates for accreditation. Each entry provides the following information: address, telephone number, president, public/private status, full-time equivalent enrollment, highest degree awarded, and accreditation history. Indicates the number of…

Lists the officers of the North Central Association, executive commissioners of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, commissioners-at-large, members of the Standing Committee on Appeals, and honorary members of the association. (DMM)

Discusses the purposes of institutional accreditation, forms of affiliation with the North Central Association's Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, general institutional requirements, criteria for accreditation, candidate for accreditation status, accreditation and institutional improvement, services of the commission, and varieties…