New here---ACI Accreditation and Christianity

Hello everyone! I'm glad to be here and I am a firm believer in distance education.

My church has become affiliated with a school that is accredited with ACI. After much research, I learned that ACI accreditation is bogus. Unfortunately, there are many religious institutions that are accredited by this agency. To me, their motives for seeking such an accreditation must range from naive to down-right deception. I sent an email, including links to my research, to the head of this school and to the head of our church. In a subsquent telephone conversation, I was asked to leave the church.

In light of all this, I believe that the Christian community should police itself and guard against such dubious programs and institutions. There are many "excellent" Christian education colleges. I went to one: Regent University, MBA, 1996. That was a very hard degree to get. I have to say that I do resent people with the same degree that come from bogus schools. I know they did not put in a fraction of the time and hard work that I did. My thought is that any school should remain unaccredited, say so up front, and not seek phoney accreditation just because it is easy and cheap. I encourage any of you out there to not compromise your integrity. Always follow the truth even though it may cost you----as it has me. But I can sleep at night. I wish you all sucess...Tom Martin

 

Welcome aboard.

 

I hope you did leave that church. They don't deserve you.

 

Welcome aboard, Tom. You're better off without them.

 

Welcome Tom

I'm sorry your hard work was met with such a pitiful response. I work with ACSI and SACS to accredit church affiliated schools. Both are quite rigorous.

I went to the ACI site and noticed that they listed absolutely no standards. That alone would be a big red flag. You were wise to give them a thorough exam.

I also have to agree with the others. You are better off without a church that would ask you to leave for suggesting their standards should not only be higher but also legitimate.

 

Welcome, Tom! And nice courage of your convictions.

ACSI has always intrigued me. What cool and interesting stuff can you tell us about it, mcdirector?

 

It sounds like quite an ordeal! You did the right thing. Regent is indeed a fine university. I'm a believer in quality Christian higher education, myself.

 

Gregg,

Since I just got back from an accreditation visit, I don't know that there is anything cool and interesting -- just exhausting!

I'll be happy to answer any questions you've got (if I can) while I'm trying to de-exhaust

 

I'll try to think of some... but first I have to get the mental image of you "de-exhausting" out of my brain.

But seriously... I guess I just wanted your take on the place, just generally. I know what its web site tells us, of course. I didn't know you were involved with it, actually... and I respect your opinion on things, just generally... so I thought maybe you'd be interested in sharing your thoughts about it, why you're involved with it, what it means to you, how it compares with other accreditors, why it's necessary, etc., etc.

The elephant in the room, of course, is that it's not USDE- and/or CHEA-aproved, yet it has -- or so it is my opinion -- credibility. Its lacking USDE and/or CHEA approval, however, puts a cloud over it, in the minds of many. I just thought you might like to comment on that...

...or any of the sorts of things I've brought up here.

 

When I first went to work at the school I'm at, it was my first exposure to Christian education and it was already affiliated (but not yet accredited by) ACSI. I didn't know there were other agencies that accredited Christian schools at the time and every once in a while I'll find out about another one. So, ACSI is the main accrediting body I've had experience with. AND my first experience with accreditation was being on my school's first steering committee.

Teachers at ACSI schools must have 4 year degrees. This is not the case with all Christian accrediting agencies. Exemptions can be filed for some positions. For example a school nurse with an LPN may be exempted to teach health courses. A minimum of 80% of teachers at a school must hold ACSI licensure -- this can be in lieu of state licensure, but it's my experience that most have both state and ACSI. Which is kind of a double whammy because on a five year cycle, some CEU credits are accepted by only the state, some are accepted by only ACSI. All administrators must hold ACSI licensure.

ACSI standards are high which is why we can work hand in hand with SACS (which also has high standards). The school can choose either the ACSI standards or the SACS standards to meet to fulfill them both. That is of course if the school decides to do both. The school I was just at only wanted ACSI, but this is rare. A chairman is assigned and a two year process begins for the school to get ready and complete its self-study. It's the chairman's job to make sure the school is ready, but sometimes that doesn't happen. Thank goodness I've not been involved in a case where that's happened. That would be devastating. It's hard enough to sit with a good school and see their disappointment when you tell them they have areas in which to improve.

On a visit, we are looking at the school's:

• philosophy/mission/vision
  Admissions policies/records
  School governance -- schools must have an operating board, but that board must allow the headmaster to do his/her job
  Finances - how they are handled, that they are sufficient to meet educational needs of students
  Relations with school/home/community
  Personnel
  Instructional program
  Library
  Technology
  Student Activities
  Guidance Services
  Health Services
  Transportation
  Food Services
  Safety/Crisis Planning
  School Facilities

One of the things that I've noticed about ACSI that sets them apart from other agencies is curriculum. ACSI doesn't publish a curriculum like the state does, but each school has some autonomy. Having said that, there are standards. Curriculum should be written using a variety of sources -- state and national standards as well as course guides from text companies. I'm looking to see that they have incorporated a myriad of teaching methods, that they are assessing in different ways, and that they are stretching the kids to use higher level thinking skills. The curriculum should be well written and easy for any teacher new to the school to pick up and use. It's been my experience that this is one of the most difficult areas for a newly accredited school to conquer. They generally have been very textbook dependent -- may teach from the first page to the last page with no variation and only use textbook based tests. We sometimes deal with schools that have been affiliated with other agencies and they don't have this standard.

A school benefits because they have to examine themselves so closely (as well as being closing examined by an outside team). They have to look at each standard and see 1) if they meet it or 2) how can they meet it. The whole process with ACSI immersed in biblical integration too -- from the board meetings to curriculum to athletics. The entire school has to work together to get the self study done because it cannot be done by a small group of people. So in addition to the introspection, a renewed sense of community is fosters (for the most part).

Reading back over this I realized that virtually everything I said is also true for RA. So why ACSI? It fosters spiritual growth in the teachers, it's looking at the spiritual in addition to the academic and it does have high academic standards. It looks at extra curricular and athletic activities. And in everything, including school governance, it is holding everything and everyone to a biblical standard.

I hadn't given any thought to why ACSI doesn't have USDE/CHEA recognition, but it is a bit of a conundrum. There are religious accrediting agencies on there, but don't they all ONLY accredit at the post-secondary level? I need to do some asking about the reasons why. It certainly would take ACSI up a notch and when I deal with the certification counselors, I know that any course or program I recommend from a USDE/CHEA recognized school will be accepted, so ACSI values this recognition.

Now that I've said so much (much more than I usually say ), well, I certainly hope I gave you some glimpses into what you were hoping for and didn't sound too much like I was recruiting someone for my next team.

 

ACSI and US Dept of Ed/CHEA Recognition

The reason that ACSI is not listed as recognized by US Department of Education or CHEA is that they only recognize post-secondary educational institutions and post-secondary accrediting organizations.

Since ACSI only accredits Pre K-12th grade, they will not be listed. It is by chance that SACS, HLC, WASC etc. are listed and only because they also accredit colleges and universities, not because of anythingthey do with K-12 accreditation.

I hope this clears things up.

ACSI is on par with any other reputable Regional or Private Accrediting Organization.