White House, White Glove

I'm in Washington, D.C. today for a one-day crash course -- yes, administrators still have something approximating classes -- on changes to college accreditation. As of Aug. 18, the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act means the White House is still interested in doing a White Glove Test on schools.

Although the new law has about 15 accreditation issues, here are the crib notes on five:

1. The new law lets schools determine which measures of student achievement are most relevant to their mission, rather than copy-cat measures from other places. That's good for religiously affiliated schools like us because we look at academic achievement AND spiritual development.

2. They want more transfer credit agreements since more and more students start at one school, then finish at another. That's good for us because many students begin at a public school, then decide on Olivet for our distinctive culture.

3. They require regional accrediting agencies (ours is the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities) to provide more information about the accrediting status of schools. That's good for us since our accreditation status is not qualified. The White Glove is clean.

4. They define what a "degree mill" is. That use to be education slang for programs heavy on marketing and weak on quality. Now they specify their characteristics so the public can be made aware to avoid them. That's good for us, separating sheep and goats for people doing the shopping.

5. Distance education programs will not require distinct accreditation standards, but the schools offering them must now develop methods to verify the one who signed-up is the one actually doing the work on the other side of the computer. That's good for everybody.

With a job shortage coming of 30 million workers -- once Baby Boomers retire -- it will become increasingly important for schools like Olivet not only to teach studens, but teach them very well to fill all sorts of needs.