Accreditation of Private k-12 Schools in the United States

In 1985, the United States Department of Education ruled that the federal government did not have the statutory authority to recognize accrediting agencies for PK-12 educational organizations. Regulation of private schools is a matter for the individual states.  The DoE has published a manual called State Regulation of Private Schools.

The manual illustrates our country's ability to approach the same issues in a variety of ways. Not one of the states regulates private schools in the same way as another. Rather, the statutes reflect the unique circumstances and concerns faced by the local communities. It has been the goal of the Office of Non-Public Education to provide a concise summary of the relevant state laws in an accessible format.

Thus, there is no national certification of academic entities serving grades kindergarten-12.  How does the consumer know if the program he or she is investigating is any good?

There is a voluntary process called accreditation, which does and does not answer the question.

What is Accreditation?
To insure a level of quality in educational institutions and programs, there is a voluntary, peer review program, known as "Accreditation". This system has evolved over time. As it is used now, it tends to mean that the school has publicly announced some goals and has accepted some standard operating procedures, and has a plan for meeting those goals and certifying the procedures are being followed. A full description can be read at WASC's Accreditation Overview page.

Both public and private k-12 schools may be accredited in the United States. Over time, a group of six voluntary organizations has evolved.  Each are separate and self -governing.  From east to west, the regions are:

1. New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,  New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont and  American/international schools in more than sixty nations worldwide.)  The Association was founded in 1885, and organizes its work into seven commissions. The commission that accredits k-12 private schools is called the Commission on Independent Schools (NEASC-CIS).  NEASC also accredits schools abroad; the commission responsible for accreditation is called the Commission on American and International Schools Abroad  (NEASC-CAISA)
2. Middle States (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and schools in the Carribean and Overseas.)  The Association was founded in 1887, and as of 1978,  organizes its work into three commissions.  The commission responsible for  elementary (PK-8) schools is MSA-CES;  the commission responsible for accrediting secondary schools is MSA-CSS and a joint organization accrediting schools serving PK-12 is MSA-CIWA
3. Southern Association (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and selected schools in Latin America).  The Southern Association has two wings: that accrediting colleges and that accrediting PK-12 grade institutions, the Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS-CASI)
4. North Central (Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Department of Defense Dependents Schools) The North Central Association is organized in a similar manner to the Southern Association.  That accrediting PK-12 grade institutions, the Council on Accreditation and School Improvements  (NCA-CASI).
5. Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington along with along with other geographical areas of the United States and the world. ) Founded in 1917, the Association has split and/or renamed itself several times as it has grown and matured.  In 1967, schools in California and Hawaii formed their own association. In 2004, recognizing that there were few issues in common between the Commission on Colleges and the commision dealing with the accreditation of PK-12 institutions, the two associations de-incorporated.  The college commission is the Northwest Commision on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), and  the PK-12 unit reincorporated as The Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAC). 
6. Western Association (California, Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Fiji, and East Asia.) The Western Association was founded in 1967.  It is organized into three commissions: Higher Education,  community and junior colleges, and pk-12 schools (WASC ACS)

I believe that NAAC is the only regional organization to be legally separate from the
regional body that accredits colleges and universities.

There is also an umbrella organization, the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation, (CITA).

The Commission of International and Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA) was created in 1996 by the six USA regional associations which accredit schools and universities.

CITA provides customized accreditation protocols and standards for schools that cross the USA regions and for national and international schools around the world. CITA awards the accreditation. The participating regional commissions manage the accreditation protocol facility.

CITA has five divisions, each with separate protocol and standards, developed to match unique types of education. They are:

   1. Supplementary Education
   2. Schools
         1. Located outside the US
         2. Trans-Regional Schools
   3. Distance Education
   4. Vocational and Adult Education
   5. Early Childhood Education

Through CITA, large regional accrediting commissions maintain a common protocol, ensure standards, and conduct evaluations of schools. Schools voluntarily live up to those standards and open their schools for evaluation. This process is validated through external review by trained and experienced peer review teams.

NAAC was originally a part of CITA, but was suspended from the organization in 2005 following questions about NAAC's accreditation of the Academy at Ivy Ridge.

The other five regional associations are members, in addition to The National Council for Private School Accreditation (NCPSA), the Council on Occupational Education (COA), and the National Study of School Evaulation (NSSE).

Comments

[MotherPie]

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