Hidden Church-State Issue In Debate Over College Accreditors

The Nov. 30 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education carries an article on the tightening of college accreditation standards by the U.S. Department of Education. In order for a school's students to be eligible for government-subsidized financial aid, the school must be accredited by an accrediting body that is in turn recognized by the Department of Education. (Background on criteria.) A body called the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) advises the Secretary of Education on which accrediting agencies should be recognized. Since Margaret Spellings became Secretary of Education in 2004, NACIQI has pressured accrediting agencies to require schools to improve criteria for measuring student achievement. NACIQI began by questioning some of the smaller accrediting agencies. One of the accrediting bodies which NACIQI has refused to endorse for full, unconditional renewal without further evidence of standards for student-performance assessment is the Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools. While no one appears to have raised any church-state issues about the process, the developments do suggest a question of the extent to which the federal government can prescribe measures of achievement for religious schools. Provisions in pending Higher Education Amendments (S 1642, Sec 491) embody changes that would tailor criteria to different missions of each institution. [Corrected].