Since when are career diplomas RA?

Hey folks,

After reading the Distance Learning Not Academic thread of late, I went poking around Ashworth and Penn Foster's pages looking at the Locksmith program there. Now I have no clue why this is, but here I am, nearing the big 5-0 with a solid career and I've just always wanted to take a course in Locksmithing just for the hell of it. Not for employment or anything but just because it sounds just so interesting to me.

So anyway, that thread had me looking around. The Ashworth program comes with a keymaker upon "graduation" so I compared it to the PF program and found that the PF does provide one upon graduation; however, in the PF General Career Diploma FAQ section under What will I get once I finish? It says:

When you complete a career diploma program, you will receive a nationally and regionally accredited career diploma.

What is that about? I've never heard of such a thing?

 

The way I've understood it is that they have high school level (secondary) regional accreditation, so these courses wouldn't be at 100 level thus not transferable into an RA college (post-secondary). There are a few very knowledgeable accreditation folks here who might have a more detailed explanation.
That said, I do believe there are many Penn Foster courses that are ACE evaluated, and I'm sure there is a list floating around here somewhere.

 

Not sure I understand your post. I wasn't speaking from the point of view of transferring a locksmith or other vocational type class to an RA college. It was the idea that a certificate is accredited by an RA agency is what has me perplexed. I know PF is ACE evaluated. I'm not talking about their higher education courses/programs, just the certificate/career diploma offerings and how they are able to call them RA.

 

Penn Foster's career school is regionally accredited. I found this out last year and posted about it, as I wasn't aware of it before then myself. From the site:

"Penn Foster Career School is regionally accredited for non-degree granting postsecondary programs... by the Commission on Secondary Schools of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools."

 

Wow. Interesting. I must have missed your post about it last time around. That almost gives more value to those programs than the degrees they offer though I doubt an employer would view a career diploma as a legitimate credential and it would look odd to read on a resume: Regionally Accredited Plumbing Career Diploma - Penn Foster College.

 

Depends on who is reading it I guess. A plumbing company may care.

 

I was just told by a Penn Foster rep that all diploma program credits count only as CEU's.

 

Regional accreditation agencies handle with a wide variety of schools, including preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, adult schools, career schools, junior colleges, and regular colleges and universities. All of these schools can be RA. But there are different kinds of RA -- for example, a preschool may be RA, but this doesn't mean that it has the same kind of RA as a research university.

In the case of Penn Foster:

- their high school programs have regional accreditation and DETC accreditation for high schools
- their career school programs have regional accreditation and DETC accreditation for career schools
- their college programs have DETC accreditation only

Penn Foster's high school program is RA, which means that it is credible as a high school program. But this is not the same as university-level RA. Same goes for their career school programs.