From adamh at gnpec.ga.gov Thu Jul 1 08:13:32 2021 From: adamh at gnpec.ga.gov (Adam Hawk) Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2021 13:13:32 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval In-Reply-To: <805d7df5606b4509bfa44c3041df2c5f@elisescanlonlawgroup.com> References: <805d7df5606b4509bfa44c3041df2c5f@elisescanlonlawgroup.com> Message-ID: Thank you all for your responses! This was very helpful. I plan to move forward with their approval, but I may ask for additional clarification on their plans to get distance education approval. This could help to understand their purpose for joining SARA. Thank you all, Adam Hawk | Program Manager/GA-SARA Coordinator Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC) 2082 East Exchange Place, Suite 220 Tucker, Georgia 30084 770.414.3310 | www.gnpec.georgia.gov From: S-SARA On Behalf Of Elise A Scanlon Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:26 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval One thought is that the institution is offering DE under the Department of Education's COVID flexibilities which will remain in place until 180 days after the national emergency is declared ended by the President. Ultimately, they will have to receive the approval of their accreditor to continue offering DE. It might be worth asking the institution to explain the discrepancy. From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Elisa Jaden Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:17 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Good afternoon, It is my understanding that as long as the accrediting agency's scope of recognition includes distance education, the institution is covered should they offer or choose to begin offering DE courses/programs. But I am curious to hear from the SPEs on their interpretation/implementation of this policy. Elisa Jaden Interim SARA Director Regional Program Coordinator Education Technology and Multistate Cooperative Programs Southern Regional Education Board Phone (404) 879-5517 E-mail: elisa.jaden at sreb.org From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Adam Hawk Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 3:59 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Good afternoon everyone, I have an initial applicant that is seeking SARA membership. They are SACSCOC accredited, but when I reviewed their information on the SACSCOC website, it does not list a Distance Education Approval Date. When looking at the NC-SARA manual, it does not specifically say that they have to be approved by their accreditor to offer distance education to be eligible to participate. It states, "whose scope of recognition, as specified by the U.S. Department of Education, includes distance education". Has anyone had this issue or have thoughts on eligibility if the institution is accredited by an accreditor whose scope includes distance education, but they do not show they been approved to offer distance education? Hopefully you can see the screenshots below. [cid:image001.jpg at 01D76E56.92368B90] [cid:image002.jpg at 01D76E56.92368B90] Thank you for the feedback. Adam Hawk | Program Manager/GA-SARA Coordinator Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC) 2082 East Exchange Place, Suite 220 Tucker, Georgia 30084 770.414.3310 | www.gnpec.georgia.gov THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS E-MAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL and is intended to be sent only to the recipient(s)identified in the e-mail header above. Any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this privileged communication by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) or that person's agent is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify our Chief Information Security Officer immediately at ciso at gsfc.org. CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS E-MAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL and is intended to be sent only to the recipient(s)identified in the e-mail header above. Any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this privileged communication by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) or that person's agent is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify our Chief Information Security Officer immediately at ciso at gsfc.org. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 18632 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 19374 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: From Nicholas.Buono at doe.k12.de.us Thu Jul 1 09:20:23 2021 From: Nicholas.Buono at doe.k12.de.us (Buono Nicholas) Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2021 14:20:23 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] [External] Re: Accreditor Distance Education Approval In-Reply-To: References: <805d7df5606b4509bfa44c3041df2c5f@elisescanlonlawgroup.com>, Message-ID: Elisai I agree with your viewpoint as that would be my understanding as well. Get Outlook for iOS ________________________________ From: S-SARA on behalf of Adam Hawk Sent: Thursday, July 1, 2021 9:13:32 AM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: [External] Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval WARNING: External Email - This email originated outside of the State email system. DO NOT CLICK links or attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the email. Thank you all for your responses! This was very helpful. I plan to move forward with their approval, but I may ask for additional clarification on their plans to get distance education approval. This could help to understand their purpose for joining SARA. Thank you all, Adam Hawk | Program Manager/GA-SARA Coordinator Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC) 2082 East Exchange Place, Suite 220 Tucker, Georgia 30084 770.414.3310 | www.gnpec.georgia.gov From: S-SARA On Behalf Of Elise A Scanlon Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:26 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval One thought is that the institution is offering DE under the Department of Education’s COVID flexibilities which will remain in place until 180 days after the national emergency is declared ended by the President. Ultimately, they will have to receive the approval of their accreditor to continue offering DE. It might be worth asking the institution to explain the discrepancy. From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Elisa Jaden Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:17 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Good afternoon, It is my understanding that as long as the accrediting agency’s scope of recognition includes distance education, the institution is covered should they offer or choose to begin offering DE courses/programs. But I am curious to hear from the SPEs on their interpretation/implementation of this policy. Elisa Jaden Interim SARA Director Regional Program Coordinator Education Technology and Multistate Cooperative Programs Southern Regional Education Board Phone (404) 879-5517 E-mail: elisa.jaden at sreb.org From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Adam Hawk Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 3:59 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Good afternoon everyone, I have an initial applicant that is seeking SARA membership. They are SACSCOC accredited, but when I reviewed their information on the SACSCOC website, it does not list a Distance Education Approval Date. When looking at the NC-SARA manual, it does not specifically say that they have to be approved by their accreditor to offer distance education to be eligible to participate. It states, “whose scope of recognition, as specified by the U.S. Department of Education, includes distance education”. Has anyone had this issue or have thoughts on eligibility if the institution is accredited by an accreditor whose scope includes distance education, but they do not show they been approved to offer distance education? Hopefully you can see the screenshots below. [cid:image001.jpg at 01D76E56.92368B90] [cid:image002.jpg at 01D76E56.92368B90] Thank you for the feedback. Adam Hawk | Program Manager/GA-SARA Coordinator Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC) 2082 East Exchange Place, Suite 220 Tucker, Georgia 30084 770.414.3310 | www.gnpec.georgia.gov THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS E-MAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL and is intended to be sent only to the recipient(s)identified in the e-mail header above. Any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this privileged communication by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) or that person's agent is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify our Chief Information Security Officer immediately at ciso at gsfc.org. CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS E-MAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL and is intended to be sent only to the recipient(s)identified in the e-mail header above. Any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this privileged communication by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) or that person's agent is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify our Chief Information Security Officer immediately at ciso at gsfc.org. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 18632 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 19374 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: From angela.lee at dc.gov Thu Jul 1 10:16:21 2021 From: angela.lee at dc.gov (Lee, Angela (OSSE)) Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2021 15:16:21 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval In-Reply-To: <805d7df5606b4509bfa44c3041df2c5f@elisescanlonlawgroup.com> References: <805d7df5606b4509bfa44c3041df2c5f@elisescanlonlawgroup.com> Message-ID: Good morning everyone, This raises an interesting topic (and honestly a concern for me). I would contend that simply because the accreditor is recognized by the US DOE to oversee distance education that does not mean that the institution is qualified to offer distance education. Playing off of SARA's use of the driver's license analogy; I am a licensed driver (accreditor). That does not make my daughter (institution) eligible to drive. Why wouldn't we want the institution to be fully approved for distance education prior to approving them for SARA? Have a great day all, Angela Angela H. Lee Executive Director Higher Education Licensure Commission 202-412-4705 (direct) Click here to complete a customer experience survey From: S-SARA On Behalf Of Elise A Scanlon Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:26 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the DC Government. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know that the content is safe. If you believe that this email is suspicious, please forward to phishing at dc.gov for additional analysis by OCTO Security Operations Center (SOC). One thought is that the institution is offering DE under the Department of Education's COVID flexibilities which will remain in place until 180 days after the national emergency is declared ended by the President. Ultimately, they will have to receive the approval of their accreditor to continue offering DE. It might be worth asking the institution to explain the discrepancy. From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Elisa Jaden Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:17 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Good afternoon, It is my understanding that as long as the accrediting agency's scope of recognition includes distance education, the institution is covered should they offer or choose to begin offering DE courses/programs. But I am curious to hear from the SPEs on their interpretation/implementation of this policy. Elisa Jaden Interim SARA Director Regional Program Coordinator Education Technology and Multistate Cooperative Programs Southern Regional Education Board Phone (404) 879-5517 E-mail: elisa.jaden at sreb.org From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Adam Hawk Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 3:59 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Good afternoon everyone, I have an initial applicant that is seeking SARA membership. They are SACSCOC accredited, but when I reviewed their information on the SACSCOC website, it does not list a Distance Education Approval Date. When looking at the NC-SARA manual, it does not specifically say that they have to be approved by their accreditor to offer distance education to be eligible to participate. It states, "whose scope of recognition, as specified by the U.S. Department of Education, includes distance education". Has anyone had this issue or have thoughts on eligibility if the institution is accredited by an accreditor whose scope includes distance education, but they do not show they been approved to offer distance education? Hopefully you can see the screenshots below. [cid:image001.jpg at 01D76E6A.84B3E5D0] [cid:image003.jpg at 01D76E6A.84B3E5D0] Thank you for the feedback. Adam Hawk | Program Manager/GA-SARA Coordinator Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC) 2082 East Exchange Place, Suite 220 Tucker, Georgia 30084 770.414.3310 | www.gnpec.georgia.gov THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS E-MAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL and is intended to be sent only to the recipient(s)identified in the e-mail header above. Any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this privileged communication by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) or that person's agent is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify our Chief Information Security Officer immediately at ciso at gsfc.org. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 17730 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image003.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 18160 bytes Desc: image003.jpg URL: From Elise.Scanlon at elisescanlonlawgroup.com Thu Jul 1 10:41:35 2021 From: Elise.Scanlon at elisescanlonlawgroup.com (Elise A Scanlon) Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2021 15:41:35 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval In-Reply-To: References: <805d7df5606b4509bfa44c3041df2c5f@elisescanlonlawgroup.com> Message-ID: <9f2ad7185c76434189888a6c4d39f944@elisescanlonlawgroup.com> Good morning all, I don't know of an institutional accreditor that does not require institutions to be approved for DE before offering programs by DE. But the Department of Education's rule recently changed with a repeal of earlier guidance that only required accreditor approval if 50% of a program was offered by Distance. That rule has now changed and the determination is to be made at the course level. So institutions must have DE approval by their accreditors (with DE in their recognized scope) for any amount of DE offered. Of course there is flexibility for institutions to offer DE without accreditation approval during the national emergency and for 180 days after it ends. However, most of the institutional accreditors that I am aware of have either required or strongly suggested that institutions apply for approval now since the end of the national emergency and the temporary Department of Ed approval for DE is uncertain. I hope this is helpful. Elise Elise Scanlon Law Group 1101 17th Street, NW Suite 808 Washington, D.C. 20036 703.772.2880 Elise.scanlon at elisescanlonlawgroup.com www.elisescanlonlawgroup.com This e-mail communication (including any attachments) may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, you should immediately stop reading this message and delete it from your system. Any unauthorized reading, distribution, copying or other use of this communication (or its attachments) is strictly prohibited. From: S-SARA On Behalf Of Lee, Angela (OSSE) Sent: Thursday, July 1, 2021 11:16 AM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Good morning everyone, This raises an interesting topic (and honestly a concern for me). I would contend that simply because the accreditor is recognized by the US DOE to oversee distance education that does not mean that the institution is qualified to offer distance education. Playing off of SARA's use of the driver's license analogy; I am a licensed driver (accreditor). That does not make my daughter (institution) eligible to drive. Why wouldn't we want the institution to be fully approved for distance education prior to approving them for SARA? Have a great day all, Angela Angela H. Lee Executive Director Higher Education Licensure Commission 202-412-4705 (direct) Click here to complete a customer experience survey From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Elise A Scanlon Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:26 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the DC Government. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know that the content is safe. If you believe that this email is suspicious, please forward to phishing at dc.gov for additional analysis by OCTO Security Operations Center (SOC). One thought is that the institution is offering DE under the Department of Education's COVID flexibilities which will remain in place until 180 days after the national emergency is declared ended by the President. Ultimately, they will have to receive the approval of their accreditor to continue offering DE. It might be worth asking the institution to explain the discrepancy. From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Elisa Jaden Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:17 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Good afternoon, It is my understanding that as long as the accrediting agency's scope of recognition includes distance education, the institution is covered should they offer or choose to begin offering DE courses/programs. But I am curious to hear from the SPEs on their interpretation/implementation of this policy. Elisa Jaden Interim SARA Director Regional Program Coordinator Education Technology and Multistate Cooperative Programs Southern Regional Education Board Phone (404) 879-5517 E-mail: elisa.jaden at sreb.org From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Adam Hawk Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 3:59 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Good afternoon everyone, I have an initial applicant that is seeking SARA membership. They are SACSCOC accredited, but when I reviewed their information on the SACSCOC website, it does not list a Distance Education Approval Date. When looking at the NC-SARA manual, it does not specifically say that they have to be approved by their accreditor to offer distance education to be eligible to participate. It states, "whose scope of recognition, as specified by the U.S. Department of Education, includes distance education". Has anyone had this issue or have thoughts on eligibility if the institution is accredited by an accreditor whose scope includes distance education, but they do not show they been approved to offer distance education? Hopefully you can see the screenshots below. [cid:image005.jpg at 01D76E6E.0BAA3140] [cid:image006.jpg at 01D76E6E.0BAA3140] Thank you for the feedback. Adam Hawk | Program Manager/GA-SARA Coordinator Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC) 2082 East Exchange Place, Suite 220 Tucker, Georgia 30084 770.414.3310 | www.gnpec.georgia.gov THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS E-MAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL and is intended to be sent only to the recipient(s)identified in the e-mail header above. Any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this privileged communication by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) or that person's agent is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify our Chief Information Security Officer immediately at ciso at gsfc.org. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image005.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 17817 bytes Desc: image005.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image006.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 18229 bytes Desc: image006.jpg URL: From angela.lee at dc.gov Thu Jul 1 11:33:32 2021 From: angela.lee at dc.gov (Lee, Angela (OSSE)) Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2021 16:33:32 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] [External] Accreditor Distance Education Approval In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks, Terrence, for this flag. This escaped my thinking. For these circumstances I would agree that the school may not need the distance education approval. But if the school is offering distance education, I think they should be approved by their accreditor to do so. Angela From: S-SARA On Behalf Of SARANC Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:27 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] [External] Accreditor Distance Education Approval CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the DC Government. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know that the content is safe. If you believe that this email is suspicious, please forward to phishing at dc.gov for additional analysis by OCTO Security Operations Center (SOC). Dear Adam - I hope you are doing well. In addition to Lynette's response, another reason the NC-SARA Manual does not require institutions to hold distance education accreditation is because not all institutions that participate in SARA choose to do so to offer distance education. Sometimes, institutions participate in SARA so they can place students in other states for their on-ground/face-to-face programs that have a field placement experience (i.e., clinical, student teaching, internship, etc.). We have several institutions, located along the North Carolina border, that only participate in SARA because they have students that live in those states that border North Carolina, drive to campus for classes, but conduct their out-of-state learning placements in their home towns. Hope this helps. Take care, Terrence From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Kuhn, Lynette Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 4:11 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] [External] Accreditor Distance Education Approval Hi Adam, We had a school in PA that was in the process of seeking approval of their DE programs, but did not receive approval yet. Our guidance from NC-SARA was this - "As long as their accreditor is recognized by USDOE and its scope includes distance education, the institution is good to go-for that area anyway. " We were going to deny them until they received the approval, but approved them based on this response. Lynette Kuhn | Division Chief Department of Education | Division of Higher Education, Access, and Equity Office of Postsecondary and Higher Education 333 Market Street | 12th Floor | Harrisburg, PA 17126 Phone: 717.783.6786 | www.education.pa.gov PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION This message is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is confidential. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender and then delete the communication from your electronic mail system. From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Adam Hawk Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2021 3:59 PM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: [External] [S-SARA] Accreditor Distance Education Approval ATTENTION: This email message is from an external sender. Do not open links or attachments from unknown sources. To report suspicious email, forward the message as an attachment to CWOPA_SPAM at pa.gov. Good afternoon everyone, I have an initial applicant that is seeking SARA membership. They are SACSCOC accredited, but when I reviewed their information on the SACSCOC website, it does not list a Distance Education Approval Date. When looking at the NC-SARA manual, it does not specifically say that they have to be approved by their accreditor to offer distance education to be eligible to participate. It states, "whose scope of recognition, as specified by the U.S. Department of Education, includes distance education". Has anyone had this issue or have thoughts on eligibility if the institution is accredited by an accreditor whose scope includes distance education, but they do not show they been approved to offer distance education? Hopefully you can see the screenshots below. [cid:image001.jpg at 01D76E75.4D174A80] [cid:image003.jpg at 01D76E75.4D174A80] Thank you for the feedback. Adam Hawk | Program Manager/GA-SARA Coordinator Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC) 2082 East Exchange Place, Suite 220 Tucker, Georgia 30084 770.414.3310 | www.gnpec.georgia.gov THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS E-MAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL and is intended to be sent only to the recipient(s)identified in the e-mail header above. Any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this privileged communication by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) or that person's agent is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify our Chief Information Security Officer immediately at ciso at gsfc.org. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 17826 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image003.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 17324 bytes Desc: image003.jpg URL: