1. What is it?
1.1. It is the willing and independent review of educational institutions and the programs that they offer to ensure they all meet a certain standard and quality.
2. Six stages of Accreditation
2.1. Standards
2.1.1. The educational institution, program, and accreditation agency work together to create standards for that program or field of study
2.2. Self-Study
2.2.1. The program looking to become accredited prepares a report that compares their program and its content, to the standards created by the accreditation agency
2.3. On-Site Evaluation
2.3.1. A team from the accreditation agency goes to the educational institution to determine the standards of the program
2.4. Decision and Publication
2.4.1. The agency may choose to grant accreditation status, and adds the institution to the official publication of accredited institutions or programs
2.5. Monitoring
2.5.1. The accreditation agency is consistently monitoring all accredited institutions to ensure their are regularly maintaining appropriate standards
2.6. Reevaluation
2.6.1. The accreditation agency regularly reassesses the accredited institutions to determine whether or not to continue their accreditation status
3. Who determines accreditation?
3.1. Six different regional agencies seperated by geographic location:
3.1.1. The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
3.1.2. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges
3.1.3. The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools - our accreditation agency
3.1.4. The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges
3.1.5. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
3.1.6. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges
4. Why is it important?
4.1. It determines eligibility for participation in certain state or federal programs like employer tuition assistance, and financial aid programs
4.2. Accreditation, or lack there-of, can impact the students licensure that is accepted for certain job fields
4.3. It assists in improving the academics and quality of the school and its programs through constant reassessment and monitoring
5. How do they do this?
5.1. They meet with students to confirm quality of the program, ask about the pros and cons of the program, and ask questions about the school content of the program
5.2. They ask certain questions about the content and education of the program to the directors, the faculty, and the students to ensure coherence and consistency in the answers across the board
5.3. They meet with faculty and directors to inquire about academic quality of the program, they look at required books and syllabi, and inspect the course map of the students
6. Types of accreditation
6.1. Institutional
6.1.1. Accreditation applies to an entire institution
6.2. Programmatic/Specialized
6.2.1. accreditation of programs, departments or schools that are part of an institution