Lesson #14,
you should attempt to encapsulate and summarize responses to the following
questions:
Why
accreditation?
According
to the text of the lesson:
“The purpose of these accrediting agencies is to improve the standards and quality of education and to assure the public that institutions meet the established standards…. These criteria for accreditation apply to ALL institutional educational programs and services wherever they are located or however they are delivered…. Evaluation and assessment of program efforts are key elements in demonstrating comparability.”
Robert
Kennedy from About.com writes:
“Accreditation implies approval of a
school's programs and their implementation. It implies continued development and
adherence to established standards. It affords ongoing protection for
consumers.”
·
Who
oversees it?
The U.S. Department
of Education does not accredit
educational institutions and/or programs. However, the Secretary of Education is
required by law to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies
that the Secretary determines to be reliable authorities as to the quality of
education or training provided by the institutions of higher education and the
higher education programs they accredit.
·
What
type of supporting evidence is needed?
Again from Robert Kennedy:
“The other
point which needs to be made is that accreditation is not permanent. It must be
maintained. A school must demonstrate during a regular review process that it
has developed and grown, not just kept the status quo. The Obligations of
Affiliation, for instance, of the North Central Association of
Schools and Colleges specifically states that a member school must undergo
review not later than five years after original accreditation was granted, and
not later than ten years after each satisfactory review. As Selby Holmberg
said in Education Week, "As an observer and evaluator of a
number of independent school accrediting programs, I have learned that they are
interested above all in standards of educational
excellence."
What differences, if any, exist between accreditation of regular instructional programs and distance learning programs?
Robert
Kennedy:
“That’s
what accreditation is all about: standards, high standards, uniform standards.
Please explore the regional accrediting association links more fully. They offer
a wealth of information on this important subject. By the way, The Northwest
Association of Schools and Colleges does not yet have a Web site;
the Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools does.”
And from Lesson 14 text:
“Uppermost, however, an educational institution seeking accreditation for its distance learning and educational telecommunications efforts must be able to demonstrate quality and effectiveness of all-campus (distance learning) courses and programs COMPARABLE to that of on-campus courses and programs.”
·
What
role are the new information technologies and educational communications playing
in counteracting and changing the strongest criticism of distance
learning?
The Distance and
Education Training Council O...
The Distance
Education and Training Council (formerly the National Home Study Council) is a
non profit educational association located in Washington, D.C. DETC serves as a
clearinghouse of information about the distance study/correspondence field and
sponsors a nationally recognized accrediting agency called the Accrediting
Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council.