Along with five other presidential higher education associations, ACE responded April 28
(164 KB PDF) to the Department of Education’s (ED) request for comments on how its
proposed regulations for teacher preparation programs deal with distance
education.
The long-awaited rules have been delayed several times and are now expected to be released this fall. ACE submitted comments
in February 2015 on the overall regulatory proposal, which centers on
the creation of a federally mandated state-level testing and evaluation
system of teacher preparation programs.
The Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), published in the Federal Register
on April 1, addresses a narrow but significant portion of the proposed
rules: the handling of state reporting and TEACH Grant eligibility for
programs that are provided through distance education.
Unfortunately, as with the broader NPRM, the approaches taken in the
supplemental NPRM will result in significant new administrative burdens
for institutions and substantial confusion for students and financial
aid offices. The comments discuss three broad areas of concern: TEACH
Grant eligibility determinations, institutional burdens with respect to
state reporting, and the lack of clarity in key provisions.
While the associations strongly share ED’s goals of improving teacher
preparation, they believe the proposals contained in the supplemental
NPRM would undermine those aims and reiterated the request made in the
2015 comments that this effort be abandoned.