Fake accreditors?

I don't know why I thought that the high school marketplace would be any better than the college one as far as unwonderful schools and fake accreditors, but I was doing some research for a friend who is looking at high school completion programs, and ran across a couple of decidely unwonderful looking high school accreditors.

Here's what I've found, but I'm curious if anyone knows anything else about them.

American Council on Private School Accreditation
http://www.acpsa.us

This one's odd. I've never seen a domain registration record where all the fields (registrant name, address, etc) show "unknown". Apparently this upstanding accreditor has only had this domain registered since september '09.

But even more interesting, the one relevant reference I could find to the email listed in the registration record was an ad for online teachers:

Interesting that they require a "bacholars" degree but they don't even know how to spell it


The other one can't even keep it's own name straight. The website and some references say National Private School Accreditation Alliance, but on their own site, while it's called npsag, they still list both "alliance" and "group" as part of their name.

National Private School Accreditation Group
http://www.npsag.com/

Interestingly, when you call the tollfree number listed in the domain registration, you get "Consolidated Credit Counseling Services". If you call the number on their website, it rings indefinitely.


Both are listed by schools that have a longwinded page on why accreditation is important, but fail to mention that having a recognized accreditor is even more important

The schools where I found the references are
http://www.excelhighschool.com/accreditation.php
http://www.johnadams-edu.us/accreditation.php


Curious if anyone's found out anything else of interest

 

Wouldn't it make more sense to just get your GED?

 

GED: "Good Enough Diploma"--Chris Rock

 

Probably, especially since he is planning on going to community college and transferring to a 4 year college, but he was also interested in getting an actual high school degree rather than a GED.

 

Isn't Excel High School is part of Microsoft Education, LLC? hahaha. I believe Power Point High School would sound better.

Yeah, these accreditators are fishy.

 

For the record, Excel High School is Regionally accredited by (Advanc-ED) NCA/SACS/NWAC and recognized by the Minnesota Department of Education. Excel High School offers regionally accredited middle school and high school programs online. Furthermore, Excel Education Systems, Inc., the parent company of Excel High School, is in the process of launching 20 ACE approved online college-level courses this summer for dual college credit. Thought you might want to know since you mentioned Excel High School in this post.

 

Like Rod says, the High School is accredited. He should know - IIRC, Rod is their CEO. What was NOT accredited was Excel College - a degree granting school. In Dec. 2016, the parent co. pulled the plug on the College. The plan for 20 ACE-approved courses appears to be a cautious re-entry into college level instruction. I wish Rod and the company better luck with it.

Here's the previous thread with the whole Excel story, College and High School.
https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/excel-high-school.34074/

 

Excel High is not part of Microsoft, TEKMAN. If Micro$oft did run a school, maybe BSOD* High would be appropriate.

* Windows users' acronym for an operating system crash. BSOD= Blue Screen of Death.

 

Johann, Excel Excel Systems, Inc. is reentering the post-secondary market with ACE approved courses, articulation agreements, and the pending acquisition of a regionally accredited career college. A larger announcement to come.

 

A RA career college? Not NA? Wow! Sounds like really big stuff, Rod. Again, I wish you and your company success in these new endeavours in the higher-ed field. I can hardly wait for the announcement.

RA career schools are pretty rare - though I did see one for sale here:
http://www.buyingandsellingschools.com/sought-after-regionally-accredited-online-us-career-college-sale-no-1077

 

Well, I'd have to guess that's the appropriate type of Regional Accreditation - likely the only sort that's available to career colleges. I'm sure the standards are rigorous enough - and I'm sure the "Big 6" don't expect any career school to adhere to the exact same standards - qualification of professors, library holdings, buildings, etc. that they demand at traditional universities.

This kind of accreditation makes total sense to me for a career school. I like to think that the six Regional Accreditors would not deal in the accreditation of this type of school if they didn't have the knowledge, tools and people to do the job properly. I have to think that - or my whole belief in Regional Accreditation comes apart - and we wouldn't want that, would we?

 

I took a peek in there, specifically at the Excel Career Institute and their Pharmacy Technician cert. Apparently the cert is an exam prep course and is not necessary for taking the certification exam (a high school diploma is the only educational requirement). It's easy to see how an exam prep course might be helpful for people hoping to pass this exam. Since the sole purpose of enrolling in this program is to pass a test I'm guessing that there's some sort of stats that Rod could give us that indicates their success rate in this regard.

 

Instructors for this program carry Pharm.D. credentials to support students. We also have internships in place with Walgreens and CVS. Requirements are different in all States, and we ensure our program meets requirements for licensing nationwide.

 

We have a signed letter of intent and terms are agreed to between Excel and the seller of the college. We have been working through the process with the State Higher Education Office and the accrediting agency. As one can imagine, acquiring a regionally accredited school is a process that takes time. Pending initial approval from the accreditor, which we hope to have by next week, we will move forward with the transition. The college is regionally accredited and listed with CHEA and other organizations. The sale is not yet approved, so more to come on this matter...

There have been some comments and questions about Excel schools, so let me clarify Excel’s scope of operation, which is widely available on our corporate and school websites. Excel is a department of education recognized, regionally accredited school system. Excel Education Systems offers middle school, high school, adult high school, and career college (post-secondary) programs. Excel is certified through the College Board to provide AP® courses and is currently working through certification (accreditation) with ACE. The ACE credits serve Excel’s adult high school learners to earn dual high school/college credit. Adult learners earn dual high school/college credit while completing their diploma with the aim to transfer credits to the ACE college network. This saves learners time and money as they later enroll at ACE partner universities.

It is not Excel’s intention to become a degree-granting university at this time. The sweet spot for Excel Education Systems is offering affordable, regionally accredited, online secondary and post-secondary programs to learners in need of high school completion, and short term career programs. Excel desires to help students advance by completing relevant, accredited, online education programs. Now, more than ever, students are seeking unique, flexible and affordable options for completing their education. Excel celebrates 15-years of operation in 2019, so we are not new to the online learning environment. Excel’s success rests on high-quality online courses and exceptional instructors. Hopefully, this is helpful information.


Rod Clarkson, CEO
A.S. Ashworth University (DEAC accredited)
B.S, Ashworth University (DEAC accredited)
M.A., Global University (HLC accredited)
MBA, Ashworth College (DEAC accredited)
Ed.S. Northcentral University (WASC accredited)

 

So then . . . no stats? On the exam prep course? No pass-rates for the certification exam? I would think that would be the first thing a prospective student would want to know. Pass-rates for the exam that they're being prepared to take.

Anyway, the problem for me is that we recently went through a period where one of our members was discussing/promoting his college which was involved in an accreditation "process." I think it's safe to say that most of us accepted this at face value, at least for a period of time. It turned out that things were not exactly as presented, if you take my meaning. As a result, I find myself with some enhanced sensitivity to claims of pending accreditation. Once burned, twice shy, as the saying goes. So hopefully you'll understand when I say that I have a generally negative reaction when I ask a very straightforward question and then get, in return, two posts that do everything except answer the question. I'm just sayin'

 

I guess some people need the structure of a training program, although, most of these online prep programs are self-paced with little to no instruction. Many people just read a prep book and take the test. Walgreens and CVS hire pharmacy tech trainees all the time. The median pay is less than $32,000. I have a hard time with recommending academic programs for low-paying occupations.

 

100% of our students that have taken the pharmacy tech exam have passed. Interesting how you attack the pharm tech program but have no comment on other offerings. I never claimed the college was going through the accreditation process back in 2014. We went in a different direction with our post-secondary plans, which today are very successful. Things change. I am sure we can all agree that much has changed in online education over the past many years. Many schools have closed, while others continue to grow and thrive.

 

Some people will never attend college or university and will only work $ 32,000 a year jobs their entire life. Others will start at CVS/Walgreens as pharmacy technicians and will later transition to better-paying hospital jobs.