Accreditation

Correspondence H.S.
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About Accreditation

To become accredited, a university, college, or other school undergoes an examination where the accrediting agency examines the institution, comparing it against a set of criteria, to determine if the institution meets the specified criteria. The criteria are based on "best practices" and examine aspects such as student services, teacher qualifications, technology usage, curriculum, financial policies, etc.

Institutions do not have to be accredited to offer diplomas. Any institution can develop and offer courses "for credit", and issue degrees. Courses from unaccredited institutions will not have the same credibility as similar courses from accredited institutions. This is because no oversight agency has examined unaccredited course offerings to determine the likelihood that certain quality standards were met in the delivery of instruction.

Oversight programs allow you to homeschool your child while submitting evidence of work completion to a company who will 'certify' your child's progress. When your child has finished the entire course of study, the company will issue an accredited diploma and handle transcripts for your child's college application. You may find the list of Accredited Oversight & Distance Education Programs to be of interest.