The negotiated rulemaking committee charged with considering
rules affecting accreditation and innovation concluded its second
session last week, during which the panel of negotiators focused
heavily on revisions the US Department of Education has made to
some of its most controversial accreditation proposals. For the
most part, these revisions, discussed below, represent a
significant retreat from ED's earlier positions, with the
federal negotiators' comments throughout the second session
suggesting that the department may be willing to concede even more
ground in the hope of reaching consensus.
With little progress having been made on accreditation and
distance education proposals central to the rulemaking, it has
become evident that the negotiators can only agree that time is
running out. ED was hesitant to add an additional session, and
suggested that extending the rulemaking would reduce the time the
department would have to draft its own proposed rule, should
