What is Accreditation?
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Accreditation is the affirmation that a school or educational service agency provides a quality of education that the community has a right to expect and the education world endorses. Accreditation is a means of showing confidence in the institution's performance. When the Commission on Elementary Schools and the Commission on Secondary Schools act to accredit, it certifies that the organization has met the prescribed standards of the Middle States Association within the terms of the institution's own stated philosophy and objectives.
The chief purpose of the whole accreditation process is the improvement of education by evaluating the degree to which an educational organization has attained worthwhile outcomes set by its own staff and community. This is accomplished by periodically conducting a comprehensive self-evaluation of the total institution. Through the accreditation process, the school, district, or service agency seeks the validation of its self-evaluation by obtaining professional judgment from impartial outsiders on the effectiveness of the total operation. The intent throughout the process is more than to focus on shortcomings; the chief goal is to seek remedies for inadequacies and to identify and nurture good practices.
The following are some of the many benefits of accreditation:
- greater clarity of purpose
- stronger internal relationships
- wider professional participation
- more effective methods of planning for educational improvement
- improved consistency between educational purpose and practice
Given the unique variety found in the membership of Middle States, the Committee on Institution-Wide Accreditation offers a number of protocols for the accreditation process. Regardless of the protocol, however, schools and other organizations are expected to meet all MSA standards for accreditation to be granted or renewed.