School Accreditation
By: Dr. Roy W. Lowrie, Jr.
Questions about the school's accreditation are raised frequently by parents and by students who are considering enrollment in the Christian school. These questions are reasonable and must be answered correctly.
Accurate answers require an understanding of the meaning of accreditation and an understanding of the earning of accreditation. It is the purpose of this chapter to provide background information for comprehending accreditation.
Meaning of Accreditation
Accreditation certifies that the school has met the established standards of the accrediting agency. By granting accreditation, the accrediting body is giving its seal of approval, its endorsement, of the school. The school becomes an accredited member of the accrediting group and is entitled to advertise as an accredited school.
All accredited schools are not equally good. A school must be a good school to meet the minimum standards for accreditation. Schools may exceed those standards by varying degrees. Any accredited school, then, is considered a good school. Some accredited schools are better than minimal and are superior schools. Still other accredited schools are even better and are schools of distinction.
Accrediting organizations do not designate schools as good, superior, or distinctive. They simply grant accreditation to, schools which have met their minimal standards, but it is obvious that some accredited schools are better than other accredited schools. No accredited school is perfect.
Accreditation is valuable for many reasons, some of which are now given.
Value Of Accreditation
An accredited school has earned recognition in the educational world. This recognition has values for parents, students, and teachers. The values to each group are now considered.
Value To Parents
Accreditation gives parents confidence in the school. They know that their children are receiving a good education. Their children are not taking an academic penalty in order to have the Christian education offered by the school.
Value To Students
Accreditation gives students confidence that they are getting a good education. If a student transfers to another school, his credits are accepted. When a student applies to college, his transcript notes the fact that the school is accredited, which is advantageous.
Value To Teachers
Accreditation is an encouragement to teachers. Their morale is better, for teachers like to work in schools that are recognized as good schools. Since teachers work hard to earn and to maintain accreditation, they have a sense of accomplishment.
There are different accrediting organizations, not just one. Some of the major agencies will now be discussed.
Accrediting. Organizations
The two major types of accrediting agencies; are: (1) Christian school organizations, and (2) Secular school organizations. It is possible for a Christian school to be accredited by both.
Christian School Accrediting Agencies
Inquiries may be made to:
Association of Christian Schools International
Box 35097
Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3509
Secular School Accrediting Agencies
These accrediting agencies function on a regional level and, in a few instances, on the state level. For specific information, contact a local public school for the addresses of the agencies offering accreditation to the schools in the community.
Secular school agencies accredit more secondary schools than elementary schools. There is a trend toward elementary school accreditation. Christian school agencies accredit more elementary schools. There is a slight trend toward secondary school accreditation.
Each accrediting agency sets its own standards. These will now be considered.
Standards For Accreditation
Accrediting bodies publish a book that explains the standards for their accreditation. The titles of these books vary a bit from agency to agency. The accrediting agency will know what you want if you ask them for a copy of their Evaluative Criteria.
The Evaluative Criteria has a section on required standards. The school must meet these standards in areas such as the following:
- Educational philosophy and objectives
- The curriculum
- Media Center
- Student admissions
- Guidance services
- School buildings and play area
- Qualifications of the administration
- Qualifications of the faculty
- School board
- Financial status.
Reading the Evaluative Criteria may be discouraging because it shows the shortcomings of the school. It is the purpose of the accreditation program to force a school to become a good school by improving itself to meet the required standards. It often takes several years to accomplish this. Improvements seldom occur suddenly. Careful planning, prayer, and hard work are needed.
It is strongly recommended that beginning Christian schools secure a copy of Evaluative Criteria at once, even if the school is only in the planning stages. As the school is founded, and as it grows, it can strive to meet the standards by which it will later be evaluated for accreditation. Building the Christian school toward these standards from the outset gives confidence that things are being done right.
No school, Christian or secular, begins accredited. Building a new school within the standards for future accreditation enables the school to earn accreditation at the earliest possible time. Failure to aim toward accreditation from the beginning of the school can lead to serious corrections which must be made later before the school meets the standards. It is harder to make corrections than it is to do the right things from the beginning.
The Evaluative Criteria also explains the procedure for earning accreditation. A summary of that procedure follows.
Procedure For Accreditation
The most significant part of the process of earning accreditation is a self-evaluation of the school by the staff and administration. The Evaluative Criteria contains carefully written questions in each section related to the standards for accreditation. Following a list of checklist questions, numerical ratings must be given to evaluate that section.
The self-evaluation is a rigorous, but rewarding job. It requires at least a year of hard work. The faculty is divided into various committees to investigate every aspect of the school according to the questions of the Evaluative Criteria. This honest self-evaluation shows the strengths and the weaknesses of the school.
When the self-evaluation is finished, the accrediting agency sends a visiting committee to the school for two or three days. The members of the committee are teachers and administrators who work in accredited schools. It is their job to evaluate the school. They visit classes, and talk to students, teachers, administrators, and board members. They review the school's self-evaluation and make whatever changes they feel are warranted. They also write commendations and recommendations for the school.
The chairman of the visiting committee is responsible to take the findings of the committee and write a comprehensive report on the school. A copy of this report is sent to the school. Another copy is sent to the accreditation agency, along with a copy of the school's self-study. The decision about granting accreditation is made by the accreditation agency after studying the materials submitted by the chairman of the visiting committee.
An accredited school must work to maintain its accredited status. Those procedures will now be presented.
Maintaining. Accreditation
Accreditation is usually granted to a school for a period of seven to ten years. At the end of that period, an accredited school must go through the entire process or self-evaluation followed by a visiting team, as previously outlined.
In the interim, the accrediting agency requires two things. They are, an annual report and periodic progress reports. The annual report is largely statistical, with a listing of major changes at the school. The progress report is a detailed report telling precisely what the school is doing about the recommendations which were made in the written report of the visiting committee. Progress reports must be submitted at the intervals designated by the accrediting agency for that individual school.
If serious problems are present, the accreditation agency sends one of its own staff members to the school at the school's expense. Following the investigation, the staff member reports his findings to the accreditation office. Failure to resolve serious problems results in the school being put on probation. Continued failure to resolve serious problems results in the loss of accreditation.
Several concluding statements on accreditation are now presented, along with recommendations.
Conclusions And Recommendations
There is a mystique about accreditation in the thinking of some people. But, those who have been deeply involved in accreditation would certify that it really comes down to hard work, proper decisions, and sustained effort on a continuous basis. There are no short cuts.
Accrediting agencies frequently provide consultants to guide a school in its initial accreditation experience. Their help is invaluable and should be sought.
It is highly desirable for a beginning, or a young school, to aim at once toward accredited status. The Evaluative Criteria is a valuable book
If accreditation by a secular accrediting agency requires the least compromise of a Christian school's philosophy or objectives, that accreditation is not worth that price.
Christian school accrediting agencies probe the Christian aspects of the school. This is the heart of the school, the reason for its existence. The secular agency can not do this.
Although accreditation should not be equated with God's approval, it is very important in the field of education. God is honored when a school is truly Christian, and when it is also a good, sound, educational institution. It is not right for a Christian school to be less than a good educational school.
It is not proper to be right in the philosophy and objectives of education, but wrong in our educational standards. Accreditation is recommended. It is important to a Christian school.
Note: Roy W. Lowrie, Jr., Ed.D. is now with the Lord. His life impacted many teachers and administrators in the Christian school movement. He was the Executive Director of the National Christian School Education Association at the time he wrote this article in 1974. His daughter, Dr. Janet Lowrie Nason, gave permission to CSRnet to publish this article online as a tribute to her father.
This page was last updated on: March 19, 2001