Accreditation, Assessment, and Compliance: Addressing the Cyclical Challenges of Public Confidence in American Education

The challenges and solutions to many regulatory initiatives in higher education trace back to the development of national and regional accrediting bodies and the public's cyclical outcries for consumer protection measures. National and regional accrediting bodies have both shaped and responded to recurrent crises of public confidence, and future solutions to the challenges of compliance and quality assurance in American higher education lie rooted in the history of the accreditation and assessment. This study explores the history and potential futures of regional and national accrediting agencies through an analysis of historical data and interviews with key decision-makers in academic institutions, lobbyists representing educational institutions, and leaders in accreditation agencies and regulatory affairs.