The foundational meaning of continuous school improvement challenges all educators to commit to continuously push beyond the line of current competence, and to see more than the completion of a management plan.
By engaging in accreditation a school will move beyond the internal and isolated discussions about continuous school improvement, and submit their educational environment to a rigorous process of analysis and evaluation. And though continuous school improvement is a formal, disciplined structure of continuous monitoring, evaluation, and adjustments, it is the tireless dedication of educators and administrators to the continuous improvement of our schools and students that leads to true organizational effectiveness.
Schools participating in accreditation benefit from shared expertise and powerful professional learning through local and global workshops, training, conferences, and personalized service. Because it lacks a central agency to govern postsecondary institutions, the U. Without this kind of assurance, the quality in education from school to school could vary dramatically, and students would not know if the education they received met any kind of academic standards.
Students need to actively seek out accredited schools for a variety of reasons. Ineligibility for federal aid, inability to transfer earned credit, and a potentially detrimental impact on career prospects serve as just a few reasons to avoid unaccredited institutions. Keep reading to learn more about the importance of accreditation and how attending an unaccredited school could impact your education and career prospects.
While researching online colleges, prospective students should keep accreditation as a top priority. The federal government looks to accreditation to determine whether the education offered at an institution merits the tuition costs.
In order for any student to receive and use federal aid , they must enroll in an accredited institution. This also applies to students who plan to use federal aid for members of the military.
Many states also offer their own forms of aid, and these programs also require students to enroll in accredited programs to qualify. Credits from an unaccredited school likely won't transfer to another institution. For example, if you earn a two-year degree at an unaccredited school and transfer to an accredited four-year school to earn a bachelor's, you may have to start over completely if the four-year school rejects the credits previously earned.
Accreditation may not actually guarantee that other institutions accept transfer credits , but it certainly improves the chances of acceptance. A degree from an unaccredited school may also hinder career prospects. Employers usually prefer that students hold a degree from an accredited institution, and some career fields like social work and nursing require an accredited degree in order to sit for licensure examinations.
Keep in mind that if you plan to use a corporate tuition reimbursement option through your employer, the employer may not reimburse tuition for an institution that lacks regional accreditation. While looking into a school's accreditation status, consider what type of accreditation the school holds. Schools can hold two different types of accreditation: regional or national. It serves as the most common form of accreditation, and also the more prestigious, as it dictates stricter academic standards.
Regional accreditation agencies oversee schools based on geographic location, with each agency covering certain groups of states. Nonprofit and state-owned institutions tend to hold regional accreditation, while for-profit schools often have national accreditation. Primarily for-profit , trade, and vocational schools constitute nationally accredited institutions.
Agencies for national accreditation establish criteria for accreditation through comparison against other similar institutions with the same accreditation status, and these agencies do not cover schools based on geographic location. The U.
Department of Education recognizes both regional and national accreditation agencies for granting financial aid. Accreditation boards are private, nongovernmental agencies established as impartial third parties to objectively review educational institutions and programs.
Accreditation organizations provide the general public with a list of programs and institutions that meet their high-quality standards to become members. Accredited colleges will also tell you which organization accredited them when you request information. An accreditation review is a process that a school or program can voluntarily apply for in order to see how they compare with other institutions and find areas where they can improve.
0コメント