Distance Education Accreditation Commission

The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), formerly known as the National Home Study Council and then as the Distance Education and Training Council, is a non-profit national educational accreditation agency in the United States specializing in the accreditation of (51 percent or more)distance education programs of study and institutions.

The DEAC was established in 1926 as the National Home Study Council (NHSC), a trade association for correspondence schools. Its formation was in response to a Carnegie Corporation study that found a lack of standards to ensure quality in correspondence schools and protect their students and the public from fraud. Under its first director, John Noffsinger, the NHSC developed a list of minimum standards for proprietary schools. The NHSC adopted the name Distance Education and Training Council in 1994 and its current name in 2014. Also in 2014, Dr. Leah Matthews, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of DEAC, wrote an article that attributes distance education learning vs. traditional learning in part, to constant changes in the education landscape. “Distance education institutions are uniquely positioned to meet the changing demands for enhanced technologies and higher education program delivery. Some view this as a threat to the traditional higher education model as opposed to a strategic opportunity. More than ever before, technology-enhanced learning has the potential to transform higher education accessibility and raise the level of education attained globally.”

In 1959 the NHSC was formally recognized by the U.S. Office of Education as an accreditor of higher education institutions. Currently the DEAC is recognized by Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the United States Department of Education as an accreditor of institutions of higher education. According to the DEAC, it is made up of over 100 distance education institutions located in 21 states and 7 countries. These institutions include non-profit institutions, trade associations, for-profit companies, colleges and universities, and military organizations. The DEAC has strict criteria for approving schools for accreditation, and the process includes examining the schools' educational, ethical, and business practices.

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