Why Accreditation?

Why Accreditation? 

Why should you consider Accreditation? We often think that to be accredited means to subject our home schools to an outside big-brother type organization that takes over all curriculum decisions, sets standards for teacher credentials, and requires additional oversight and inspection.

Still we consider accreditation because very specific standards exist for high school students in any educational setting.  There are required courses that must be taken and a certain number of credit units that must be earned to receive a college preparatory or career/technology diploma.  It also provides a level of approval for our work.  That seal of approval has value.

Accreditation opens doors. A college application from an applicant with an unaccredited transcript can result in extra requirements for admission; additional testing, interviews, higher SAT scores than the average public school student are required, and portfolio development which requires a copy of a table of contents from all curriculum; examples of work; letter of recommendations, etc.  An applicant with an accredited transcript follows the “normal” process for admissions.  No extra requirements.  No portfolio.

Plus, in Georgia an accredited applicant with a 3.0 GPA is immediately eligible for the HOPE scholarship, while an unaccredited applicant, even with a 4.0 GPA, is only eligible retroactively, after maintaining a 3.0 GPA through 30 semester hours in college.  If neither student is able to keep the 3.0 GPA for 30 hours, the accredited student still gets those first 30 semester hours paid for by HOPE Scholarship, the unaccredited student does not.

Effective July 1, 2004, the ACCEL Program was created for the accredited high school student that desires joint enrollment with a post-secondary school.  The students that are eligible can use their HOPE monies for joint-enrollment through the ACCEL Program.

What is the “center for independent study”?

Trinity Center is for 8^th-12^th grade educational accreditation and is an agent for non-traditional education accredited by the Georgia Accrediting Commission, a non-profit, non-government institution.  The center serves as an ally in assisting the learner to follow adequate patterns of study, to be successful in academic achievement, to receive professional evaluation, and to receive a transcript and, upon graduation, a diploma from an accredited study program.

The standard accreditation procedure involves a review of the school, its administration, its acquaintance with the Georgia School Attendance regulations, its teachers, its curriculum, its classroom space, and the number of books in the library.  In the end, the decision is made on the educational process.  The education of a student who has been processed through an accredited school is deemed worthy of the endorsement granted by the accrediting association.  With a transcript from an accredited program, a student that enters a public, private, or other accredited program will be able to transfer credits.

Some have been led to believe that certain curriculums are accredited, but curriculums are not accredited, schools and centers are.

What’s the cost for accreditation?

The yearly cost for a student’s one full year of high school to be accredited through an accredited program is less than the average yearly tuition and fees for one (1) subject/course offered for tutorial classes that most homeschoolers use for their high school students.  

***The Accredited Centers that meet the standards of the Georgia Accrediting Commission have been recognized by the Chancellor’s Office of University System of Georgia and by the Georgia Technical Colleges for admission into colleges. Graduates of accredited centers are eligible for the Hope Scholarship immediately. ***No accrediting agency can assure the student he/she will be admitted to college.