American Academy for Liberal Education
The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) is a United States educational accreditation organization.
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[edit] Accreditation
AALE provides two types of accreditation for higher education institutions that offer general education programs in the liberal arts. It provides institutional accreditation for universities and colleges that want AALE to be their sole accreditor and it provides program accreditation for liberal arts programs within higher education institutions that are institutionally accredited by another accreditor.[1] Several AALE-accredited institutions follow a "great books" approach.[2]
AALE accreditation of institutions of higher education is recognized by the United States Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education.[3] As such, this accreditation enables institutions to participate in programs authorized under the Higher Education Act and other U.S. federal programs. The American Academy for Liberal Education is also an accreditor of K-12 charter schools and independent schools throughout the United States.
The Academy also works with institutions and programs outside the United States that emphasize liberal education and the liberal arts.
[edit] Membership and leadership
As of August 2009, the Academy had about 20 member institutions in the United States, including accredited institutions and applicants for accreditation, and another dozen members outside the country.[4]
The AALE President is Jeff A. Martineau and Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Ralph Rossum of Claremont McKenna College.[5]
[edit] History
AALE was formed in 1992 by Jacques Barzun, retired professor from Columbia University, E.O. Wilson of Harvard and Lynne Cheney, former US Secretary of Education, among others.[6]
In December 2006, the U.S. Department of Education suspended AALE's authority to accredit new institutions and programs, following a determination by the Department's National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity that AALE had been lax in not setting minimum standards for what students must learn at the colleges it had accredited.[2][7] This restriction was lifted in December 2007.[8] In the ruling that lifted the restrictions for a period of three years (expiring in December, 2010), Education Secretary Margaret Spellings wrote of "continued concerns stemming from AALE's being cited consistently since 2001 for either not having clear standards with respect to measuring student outcomes or not collecting and reviewing data on how institutions it accredits measures student outcomes."[9] The AALE petitioned the Department of Education for renewal of recognition in December, 2010.[10]
[edit] See also
- List of recognized accreditation associations of higher learning
- Educational accreditation
- Standards-based education reform
[edit] References
- ^ Accreditation process, AALE website (accessed December 7, 2007)
- ^ a b "Fears of Possible Federal Learning Standards Grow as Liberal-Arts Accreditor Is Penalized," Chronicle of Higher Education, December 7, 2006 (subscription required).
- ^ Accreditation in the United States: Specialized Accrediting Agencies, U.S. Department of Education website, accessed December 23, 2009
- ^ Members and Applicants, AALE website, accessed August 30, 2009
- ^ Board of Trustees, AALE website, accessed August 30, 2009
- ^ See AALE Standards and Criteria at the Academy website, as cited above.
- ^ Accreditor Loses Certification Power, by Paul Basken, The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 8, 2007
- ^ NAS Expresses Pleasure and Relief at Advisory Panel’s Recommendation on the AALE, National Association of Scholars press release, December 19, 2007 (accessed on NAS website, December 23, 2009)
- ^ A Break From Purgatory, Barely, Inside Higher Ed, July 23, 2008 (accessed February 16, 2011).
- ^ December 1-3, 2010 Meeting Agenda (pdf), U.S. Dept. of Ed., National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (accessed February 16, 2011).
