Some recent threads on private schools set me to wondering: how do reputable private schools get accredited? I suppose it differs from state to state, but what exactly does the administration need to do to win approval? What’s the first step?
Do private schools need to to get re-certified every so often? Do they ever get audited by the state?
There are different regional accreditation groups - the one for the mid-Atlantic region is the Middle States Association. There’s good info on their web site.
Not only are there regional accreditation agencies, there are also state and national groups. The national groups tend to be “accrediting associations of accrediting groups” - IOW, a way to know your accrediting group is valid.
The private school that my kids go to was accredited last year after a pretty grueling 1 year plus process. Our accrediting agency is the Associaton of Christian Schools International (www.acsi.org), which is a member agency of the National Council of Private School Accreditation (www.ncpsa.org), both of which are recognized in all 50 states.
During the accreditation process the agency took an in depth look at, among other things:
-curriculum and teaching methodology
-teacher certification, credentials and experience
-administration certification, credentials and experience
-board of directors makeup and policies
-school policies and procedures
-student success rate as measured by testing, both standardized and “in house”
-financial records of the school - historic, current and projected
-facilities, both current and planned
The process included several site visits to validate the reams and reams of paper reporting that had to be submitted covering all of the above areas.
Accreditation by these groups means that classes taken by kids at our school can be transferred to other accredited schools, both public and private, and that a diploma from our school is recognized by all colleges and universities as valid.
This statement doesn’t have any meaning. In the “Big Leagues” of education, either you are accredited by one of the major regional groups or you’re not. (And there are “higher” orgs for specializations within a field.) Lesser groups are way, way down the ladder. Note that the US Govt doesn’t “get” this and will allow school loans and such to what are basically fly-by-night schools with shady accreditation.
Note that the regional orgs don’t care if you are public or private. Ergo, there is no reason whatsoever for a school to get approved by NCPSA (founded in 1993!) unless there is some reason they can’t get a real accreditation. (Ahem.)
So, sorry to say Doctor Jackson, but you kids school is not recognized as accredited by virtually all other schools. This has a significant impact on transferring credit, diplomas, etc.
“Recognized in all 50 states.” is a bad, bad thing for a school to say. They should state the regional association that accredits them and you go to that orgs web site and check that the school is on their list.
ftg, I’m not going to get into a pissing match with you in GQ. The OP asked a question about how private schools get accredited and I answered based on 1 schools experience with 1 accrediting association.
We are currently in the process of accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools - is that “Big League” enough for you? The process is basically the same, I only mentioned ACSI because we have completed that one.
Why be accredited by both? To make it as easy on our students as possible. ACSI accreditation means that credits are transferrable to other public and private schools in my area. Yes, I have checked. Our diplomas are accepted at virtually all public and private colleges in the US. Yes, I checked. OTOH, SACS is the “big dog” around here. Admissions clerks do not have to check to see if SACS accreditation is acceptable. It’s a given.
That’s because the US Government has nothing to do with accrediting schools. That function is left entirely up to the states. State associations joined to create regional associations, which in turned formed national organizations. If the state recognizes the accrediting association, then the US government provides loan money to those schools.
BTW - ACSI has been around in it’s current form for over 25 years, formed by a merger of 3 much older associations. In 1993 it joined several other regional and local associations to create a national organization - NCPSA.
They didn’t, I did.