North Central Investigates

An addendum to "A Whole New Perfect Storm": Scott Jaschik has a new article in Inside Higher Ed reporting on the investigation the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools has launched into three universities it accredits, Fort Hays State University and two for-profits, Ellis University and Grand Canyon University.

Apparently the universities in question didn't bother to check with their accrediting agency before outsourcing developmental and gen ed courses to StraighterLine, so that North Central had to read about it in the "papers" (actually, in Scott Jaschik's original article on the outsourcing). According to Lawrence V. Gould, the Fort Hays provost, he didn't see any reason to notify North Central because they accept transfer credits from other institutions; but according to a North Central spokesperson, it makes a huge difference that StraighterLine is not an accredited degree-granting institution.

StraighterLine CEO Burck Smith says he welcomes North Central's investigation, saying his company's courses will hold up to any comparison. And as I suggested in my previous post, my guess is that this will indeed prove to be the case. North Central will pass on StraighterLine, and everything will be kosher. And more and more universities and their accrediting agencies will begin to recognize and accept and use this new business model, and higher education in this country will be transformed.