Accreditation Regulatory Reform Takes the Next Step: What's Next for Digital Learning?

In our June Frontiers post, we examined the consensus draft language developed through the U.S. Department of Education’s Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization negotiated rulemaking committee and what accreditation reform could mean for digital learning. The Department has now released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) with proposed regulations that largely reflect that consensus language, with some technical changes.

For digital learning professionals, the key question is not whether the proposal is aimed directly at digital learning. Instead, it is centered on how accreditation changes may eventually shape institutional flexibility, student outcomes expectations, data readiness, transfer policies, substantive change processes, and protections for distance education students.

This post highlights what is proposed, why digital learning professionals should pay attention, what institutions can do now, and how public comments can help the Department understand the practical effects of the proposal on distance education students and digital learning more broadly.

The proposed regulations would revise the federal requirements governing the Department’s recognition of accrediting agencies under 34 CFR 602. In short, the Department is proposing to modernize accreditation, reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, increase attention to student outcomes, and create more room for flexibility and innovation.

The proposed regulations are directed primarily at accreditors, not institutions. However, institutions should pay attention because accreditor standards, policies, and review processes shape how institutions demonstrate compliance, document quality, and make changes to programs. Once the regulations are final, accreditors may need to revise their standards, and those revisions will affect the institutions they accredit. [..]