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Accreditation-
10 FAQs
Q. What is accreditation?
Few
can agree on one meaning – hence the plethora
of accrediting bodies and standards. The dictionary
defines it as: “The granting of approval to
an institution of learning by an official review board
after the school has met specific requirements.”
In the United States, accreditation is an entirely
voluntary process, done by private, nongovernmental
agencies, so the term official becomes problematic
at the outset. As a result of this lack of central
control or authority, there have evolved good accrediting
agencies and bad ones, recognized ones and unrecognized
ones, legitimate ones and phony ones. One accrediting
organization is not legally designated as being superior
over another. Consequently, the acceptance of diplomas,
transcripts, and transfer credits for students who
are home schooled or enrolled in a particular program
are according to the requirements of the receiving
institution.
Q.
What does accreditation have to do with education
and learning?
Nothing
directly. Accreditation has to do with which school
one attends, not with the student or what the individual
student has learned. Ironically, some of the
worst public schools and private schools are accredited,
as are some of the worst colleges. Some of the finest
are not – finding insufficient reason to seek
accreditation. Their good reputations precede them.
Since some accrediting bodies are established by the
same school(s) which they subsequently accredit, the
integrity of their accrediting process is sometimes
seriously compromised.
Q.
What then, is the purpose of accreditation?
Accreditation has one main function: to weed out
“diploma mills” and other assorted educational
scams – that is, most accrediting bodies have
it as one of their stated purposes to “assure
quality education,” in some manner, and
to try to give parents, students, other schools
or the government some assurance the educational institution
being reviewed is legitimate and meets some, usually
minimal, standards. How that is done or attempted
widely varies, as do the standards used and the quality
of the private accrediting bodies themselves.
Parents and students sometimes use accreditation as
one means of determining if they wish to attend a
certain school or educational program about which
they know little. Schools and colleges sometimes consider
accreditation as a factor in accepting transfer of
credits earned at other colleges and universities.
The US Department of Education considers accreditation
as one factor in allowing Pell Grants and other forms
of student loans to be used at colleges or universities.
Q.
What usefulness does accreditation have for an elementary
or high school level homeschool program?
The answer to this question, in our opinion, ranges
from nothing to practically nothing.
When accreditation is sought below the college level,
the primary reason is, generally, simply to provide
parents with some comfort level that the program is
legitimate (i.e., of at least some minimal
quality) – not a scam of some sort. Some
parents consider accreditation important due to confusion
and misinformation about accreditation at the elementary
and secondary level of education, which we hope this
page will help dispel.
Predictably, some schools that do seek and obtain
accreditation at the elementary or secondary level
tend to tout that fact for marketing purposes by exaggerating
its utility at that level. To be fair, some
schools, and even some accrediting bodies, quite accurately
state that the utility of accreditation at the elementary/high
school level is simply a comfort factor for parents
– assurance by a 3rd party the program or school
is neither a scam nor a diploma mill, and meets some
minimal standards.
If a parent or student has a real concern whether
the homeschool program they are considering is legitimate
or merely a diploma mill or scam, they really need
to investigate the program more (such as read up on
it, talk to others using the program, etc.),
because if it is a scam or mill, it may have
also created its own accreditation body or organization
which has “Accredited” it.
There is no more effort in creating a bogus program
or school then there is in creating a bogus accrediting
body, as there are no federally recognized accreditation
associations for elementary and secondary schools
(that includes the six regional accrediting associations,
which are so recognized at the college level only).
Legitimate accrediting bodies (i.e., those
making a serious attempt to determine which schools
or programs they review are good or bad
[as in diploma mills]) at the elementary
and secondary (high school) levels, each set their
own standards and criteria for making their judgments,
and are not governmentally recognized at that level.
So it is still left to parents to determine if, in
fact, the accrediting body is legitimate (a task often
more difficult than deciding if the school is legitimate),
and if they value and agree with their standards and
methods used to judge schools and programs.
For instance, some accrediting bodies consider the
teaching of creationism as an obstacle to accreditation,
others do not. All of which begs the question:
isn’t it easier and more reliable simply to
examine and judge the school or program for oneself?
Here are the criteria often examined by accrediting
bodies (note that, having been designed for physical
colleges, very little of it has much to do with evaluating
homeschool education programs):
- Curricula
- Faculty
- Facilities,
equipment, and supplies
- Fiscal
and administrative capacity
- Student
support services
- Program
length, tuition, and fees in relation to academic
objectives
- Program
length, tuition, and fees in relation to credit
received
- Student
achievement (job placement, state licensing exams,
etc.)
- Student
loan repayments
- Student
complaints received by or available to the accreditor
- Compliance
with student aid rules and regulations Everything
else, including recruiting, admissions practices,
calendars, catalogues and other publications, grading
practices, advertising and publicity, and so on.
Q. Is the Academy’s homeschool
program accredited?
No. There is a common misconception that homeschoolers
are actually attending a “school.” By
definition, that is not the case. Homeschooling
(perhaps an unfortunate label to define what
is better described as home education) does
not involve attending a school – in fact, that
is precisely why most parents opt for it. At most,
besides providing their particular curriculum for
use at home, homeschool programs offer some
educational counseling, minimal tutoring, and grading.
Homeschooled students attend to home, not to a school
(except as a legal fiction in some states).
As private homeschoolers, the parents are the ones
who provide "accreditation" for their child’s
education. That is to say, the quality of home education
depends, and is assured, not by some 3rd party or
accrediting body, but by the parents. It cannot be
otherwise and still be homeschooling. Homeschooling
is legal in all 50 states (subject to various requirements
in many of them). It is scarcely credible that
a parent would conduct a scam in the education of
their own children. By its very nature, home
education should be independent of the kind of oversight
by the state (or private accrediting bodies) necessary
for them to verify that your child has completed whatever
standards you choose to use.
Since, apart from part of our online Socratic discussion
classes, students using our program are educated at
home by themselves and their parents, there is no
logical reason to seek accreditation as a school.
We are not a school. Rather, we offer a complete homeschool
program or curriculum, which parents and students
utilize to assist them with their own home education
(or homeschooling, if one prefers that term).
Homeschool programs which boast of accreditation,
are, in most cases, simply piggybacking a separate
homeschool program onto the accreditation of a brick-and-mortar
(i.e., physical) school somewhere, which
their homeschooled students rarely if ever see, much
less attend. Besides those, there are a few,
new private accrediting bodies set up to review independent
elementary and high schools, which may review homeschool
programs. We have discovered no sufficient reason
to join these to date, which simply offer some minimal
level of “peer” review. Some accrediting
bodies have actually been established to avoid dealing
with existing accrediting bodies considered objectionable.
None are government-recognized accrediting bodies
for the elementary or secondary level.
Q.
What about your online classes?
Our online discussion classes are different. They
are a distance education program conducted, not by
parents, but by moderators. As you may wish to read
on links on our homepage, our high school Great
Books Program was recently recommended for college
credit by the American Council on Education (ACE)
for 6 hours of college credit per semester.
Unlike accreditation at the high school level, college
credit recommendation is very meaningful for students
later moving on to one of the many hundreds of colleges
and universities which accept ACE recommended credits.
Q.
Does accreditation of a secondary (high) school level
homeschool program make courses taken from them eligible
for college credit?
No. To our knowledge, only AP (Advanced Placement)
or ACE (American Council on Education) recommended
courses would ordinarily be considered by a significant
number of colleges and universities for college credit.
Accreditation of an elementary or secondary level
homeschool program has nothing to do with college
credit. Obtaining accreditation from one of the private
elementary or secondary accrediting bodies would not
result in any college credit.
Q.
What about transferring into a public or private high
school after homeschooling for a number of years?
Does lack of accreditation affect that case?
In six years we have had one student (we know of)
decide to return to public high school. In that case,
the principal of the school took the position that
since the student had not attended an accredited school,
the school would do their own evaluation of the educational
level of the student. Using a homeschool program accredited
by some body or other could, and probably would, have
resulted in precisely the same reaction – homeschoolers
are not appreciated by most school officials as they
lose significant revenue for each student taken from
the school system. One can therefore expect occasional,
punitive reactions from some principals, using various
excuses to justify such.
However, that is not altogether unreasonable. If a
student or parents decide to get back into the educational
establishment at the elementary or high school level,
then they will have to play by the rules of that school.
It is within the competence of the school systems
to determine where they wish to place students in
their systems, and whether or not to accept transcripts,
or require new testing such as placement tests or
SATs. etc. In the US the county superintendent,
or another school district official, is usually responsible
for approving what will be accepted at local schools,
where such approval is needed, whether accredited
or not.
Q.
Is it necessary to have attended an accredited high
school (or high school level program) to apply to
or attend a college or university?
No. The great majority of students are accepted into
colleges based on an evaluation of their application
(the student essay has recently taken on significant
screening importance), the results of their Scholastic
Aptitude Test (SAT) or American College Testing (ACT)
scores and their high school Grade Point Average (GPA).
The high school's accreditation or non-accreditation
status is not a factor in the evaluation of a high
schoolers eligibility for college admission, except
perhaps in the increasingly rare case. A school's
accredited status from any accrediting organization
does not provide a legal guarantee that a student
will be accepted in any private or public transfer
institution. It only demonstrates the school's voluntary
self-examination assisted by an independent third
party.
A student may petition for admission to any public
education entity and request to be accepted based
on any of his transcripts, course descriptions, attendance
records, diploma, standardized test results, and any
other documentation. The student may also request
to subject himself to standardized academic tests
to confirm his mastery of the subject area(s) that
he claims to have mastered, at the grade/education
level or competency he claims to have achieved.
Perhaps 20-25 years ago, colleges and universities
did consider the accreditation status of the applicant's
high school. But few now. Why not? The answer may
be summed up in one word: homeschooling. Because
of the growing number of homeschooled students that
are applying for college admission, as well as the
fact that the best colleges and universities across
the country are actively recruiting homeschooled students,
the accreditation issue is moot in the college admission
process (there may be and probably are a few remaining
exceptions to this). The ever-increasing numbers of
homeschooled students (up to 2.1 million now) and
the demonstrated quality of their education documented
in the eloquence of their application essay, their
stellar achievements in a wide variety of extracurricular
activities, and in their outstanding SAT and ACT scores
and GPAs have required nearly all colleges and universities
to eliminate school accreditation as a criteria in
their admission policies. Keep in mind, virtually
all public schools are accredited or certified
by one entity or another - and colleges well know
such accreditation guarantees absolutely nothing –
it is truly meaningless.
Q.
Does accreditation of a college or university have
any more importance than it has for elementary or
high schools or homeschool programs?
Yes. Accreditation of colleges and universities (rather
than of elementary and high schools and homeschool
programs, which we have discussed above), has some
important, though indirect, benefits:
1. The US Department of Education will not approve
student loans to attend most non-accredited colleges
and universities. So if one is anticipating applying
for a student loan, one probably ought to select an
accredited college or university. Here again, even
the accrediting body may be bogus, so one has to make
sure the accreditation is accepted by the US Department
of Education (such as by one of the six regional college
accrediting bodies or the American Academy of Liberal
Education).
2. Foundations sometimes will not consider grants
to non-accredited colleges or universities. This is,
of course, largely irrelevant to parents or students.
3. There are a number of bogus colleges and universities
– diploma mills - with which parents and students
are completely unfamiliar and cannot easily discover
much about. A serious college level accreditation
review by a legitimate review team can certainly weed
out the worst of the lot, to be avoided.
4. Students often transfer from one college or university,
or later select a graduate or postgraduate program
at a college or university different from the one
initially attended. Naturally, they want their credits
from the original college or university accepted/transferred
to the latter one. Colleges and Universities, with
few exceptions, are entirely free to accept or reject
transfer of credit for courses taken elsewhere, and
very often reject some or all of the college level
work done elsewhere. In making their decision about
whether or not to accept transfer of credits from
another college or university, accreditation is one
factor often considered. However, there is no
predicting this, as standards and methods vary widely.
It is up to the individual college or university to
accept or reject official records from another school
or program, based on their own internal policy. It
is definitely best to check with the particular colleges
and universities one plans to attend to determine
what their transfer of credits policy is, before one
invests much time and treasure at one, hoping to transfer
later. Simply assuming one can freely transfer
credits from one college to another has often resulted
in serious disappointment. Even different departments
in the same university often have different transfer
of credits policies and standards. It is not
something one should leave to guesswork, if one can
avoid that.
SUMMARY
Our Academy homeschool curriculum is used in all 50
states, and in over 30 foreign countries by thousands
of students. It can fairly be said, and we often
hear, that parents and students widely regard it as
the most serious and academically challenging (and
rewarding) of homeschool programs available.
You may judge that for yourself. It is fairly
easy to find parents or students familiar with our
program (now in its sixth year), and we have literally
hundreds of pages of information, testimonials and
articles on our approach online at our website. Our
materials are, for the most part, from major publishers
and include as a core the well-known great classics
of literature. We believe seeking some form
of accreditation for our elementary or high school
level program – particularly since it is intended
for home education - would be a waste of our
time and provide parents with nothing worthwhile.
Recall that the existing accreditation of public schools,
and many private schools, is completely meaningless
from the point of view of authentic, worthwhile education.
On the other hand, accreditation of colleges and universities
does have some indirect relevance and utility, for
them, listed in four points, just above. There are
a number of problems with the accreditation process
in the US, even at the college level – such
as the tendency to uniformity and to stifle creativity
and new educational approaches and technologies (such
as online education). But none of this has any
bearing or relevance to our seeking some form of accreditation,
or not, at the elementary or secondary level, for
what is a home education program.
.......................
With respect to our online classes, we decided that
obtaining the recommendation of the American Council
on Education for college credit was worthwhile for
our students, and made sense, since moderators, not
parents, do conduct those classes online.
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The Academy expressly makes no claims regarding the
acceptance of our diplomas, courses or transcripts
by any specific state or public school district, state,
government agency, community college, private or public
transfer institution, parent, military branch, or
any other organization. Information concerning the
acceptance of our diploma, courses and/or transfer
credits should be directed to the admissions official
at the public or private transfer institution well
in advance, prior to seeking enrollment in their institution
or programs. Parents enrolling their students in the
Academy homeschool program still need meet all applicable
local and state homeschooling requirements.
Helpful
information on local homeschooling laws may be obtained
at:
In the US: http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp
In Canada: http://www.hslda.ca/provlaws.asp |
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