What states will accredit a homeschool? and how hard is it?

[Joan in GE]

I remember Bev in B'ville posting that she was able to get accredited by the state of Georgia.

 

Bev do you have a link for the requirements?

 

What other states, presuming the home is meeting the requirements, do this? And can you post links to requirements?

 

I'm thinking maybe some of us could start a "Bilingual (umbrella) High School" to try to accommodate some of our international situations but then it might be good to be accredited (without too much fanfare).

 

Thanks!

Joan

[Yolanda in Mass]

Never heard of any such thing here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. I imagine it would be possible only in states which regard homeschools as private schools. We are not classified as private schools in this state.

 

Yolanda

[SkateLeft]

Minnesota has a provision for accrediting a homeschool.

 

The MN Dept of Ed has a document called Minnesota Homeschool Basics, which lays out the homeschool law. Page 13 specifies the "Reduced Reporting Requirements for Home Schools Accredited by State Recognized Accrediting Agencies."

 

There are two organizations that the state currently recognizes as being able to accredit homeschools. :001_smile:

[Ellie]

Minnesota has a provision for accrediting a homeschool.

 

The MN Dept of Ed has a document called Minnesota Homeschool Basics, which lays out the homeschool law. Page 13 specifies the "Reduced Reporting Requirements for Home Schools Accredited by State Recognized Accrediting Agencies."

 

There are two organizations that the state currently recognizes as being able to accredit homeschools. :001_smile:

Notice that the State of MN isn't doing the accrediting; it is an outside agency. Also, MN is reducing the reporting requirements for those schools, not accrediting them.

 

The "state-recognized outside accrediting agencies" are usually one of the following:

 

1. New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC):

 

2-- North Central Association of Schools and Colleges (NCA)

 

3-- Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges (MSA)

 

4-- Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SACS)

 

5-- Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)

 

6-- Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges (NWCCU)

Edited May 8, 2010 by Ellie

[Sunshine State Sue]

You might want to check out Clonlara's home based program. They are accredited.

[SkateLeft]

Notice that the State of MN isn't doing the accrediting; it is an outside agency. Also, MN is reducing the reporting requirements for those schools, not accrediting them.

 

The question was which state would accredit a homeschool, with a specific reference to Georgia. That's what I was answering.

 

Is the original poster actually looking for which regional accrediting agency will accredit a homeschool?

 

And actually, yes, MN does authorize these agencies to "accredit" the homeschools. A diploma from these agencies is considered "accredited" by the state. Granted, it's only within the state of MN... but hey, that's what the original poster was asking. :tongue_smilie:

 

There are many, many accrediting agencies out there. The regional accreditation agencies are the ones we are generally most familiar with, but there are plenty of others.

[Mad Jenny Flint]

But she helped me to get started going this route, and I have an accredited non-traditional school (home school) as of last May. It is not an easy process, in that it takes time and there are certain conditions one must meet in terms of degrees, etc. that not everyone has.

 

Here is the link to the accrediting agency we used, and their standards which must be met for non-traditional accreditation status:

 

http://www.coe.uga.edu/gac/standards/non_traditional_ed_ctr.html

 

Basically, GA can be a little more difficult in terms of gaining a level playing field for state colleges. There are more hoops to jump through for admission and for the HOPE scholarship. And, when I started the process, home educated students were not eligible for dual enrollment, but they are now. It was worth it to me to jump the hoops on this end.

[Joan in GE]

but it did raise some interesting issues that I probably need to know....

 

To be clearer (though maybe now I need to change the question), I was asking about states that will accredit a homeschool.

 

I'm thinking of starting some kind of umbrella Bilingual High School with some other families....and then I started wondering about accreditation. Clearly it wouldn't be able to be by one of the biggies that you mentioned Ellie. I know there are lots of fly-by-night types of accrediting agencies and don't know how to find ones that might be worthwhile. Then I started thinking about state accreditation.

 

Though from reading these links, I'm not sure if being an accredited homeschool would then be able to apply to some other families out of state and therefore would not really be able to work for a small umbrella school.

 

Minnesota - Thanks for that link sailmom. I see that the Minnesota situation is more complicated as they approve the accrediting agencies which can then, if I understood this right, accredit a homeschool? I think that Minnesota definitely won't work as I see that the classes have to be taught in English and I want to have some taught in French or other languages.

 

Thank you Jenny for that link...Did you have to pay $200 per day for the consultant to examine your school? When it says "suggested graduation requirements", that means suggested and not required, right? Eg if one did a year of Advanced Composition instead of English 9, would it work?

 

Sailmom - I guess that is not a bad question about which agency will accredit a homeschool if it is not done by a state. Do you know of any worthwhile ones?

 

Sue - I have looked at Clonlara as it is used by people overseas but my husband thinks they are too expensive for what they offer. If I have to pay $200 day for accreditation it might quickly become cheaper - but maybe not in the long run.

 

Thanks Yolanda - it would have been very helpful to have it in MA as I have contacts there....now I can cross that state out.

 

Ellie - I know you had an umbrella school. Had you looked into accreditation?

 

I have heard that in PA the classes are supposed to be taught in English.

 

What are states that allow immersion programs? Those states cannot have the mandatory teaching in English requirement....

 

I had been thinking about NARS and how they were accredited by some organization and by the state of Maine. But it bothers me that when you look at what is required - 60 hours for a credit - it would look like we have done almost nothing. So to me their credits are not worth paying for.

 

I don't want to start this as a business, merely as a way of authenticating work done by my children for schools here and those of other families in similar situations and provide a way of reflecting the efforts at bilingualism.

 

Thanks everyone!

Joan

[Ellie]

And actually, yes, MN does authorize these agencies to "accredit" the homeschools. A diploma from these agencies is considered "accredited" by the state. Granted, it's only within the state of MN... but hey, that's what the original poster was asking. :tongue_smilie:

But the state of MN is not itself the accrediting agency.

 

There are many, many accrediting agencies out there. The regional accreditation agencies are the ones we are generally most familiar with, but there are plenty of others.

Yes, there are many. However, the regional ones are recognized by everyone; the others are not always recognized or accepted.

[Bev in B'ville]

But she helped me to get started going this route, and I have an accredited non-traditional school (home school) as of last May. It is not an easy process, in that it takes time and there are certain conditions one must meet in terms of degrees, etc. that not everyone has.

 

Here is the link to the accrediting agency we used, and their standards which must be met for non-traditional accreditation status:

 

http://www.coe.uga.edu/gac/standards/non_traditional_ed_ctr.html

 

Basically, GA can be a little more difficult in terms of gaining a level playing field for state colleges. There are more hoops to jump through for admission and for the HOPE scholarship. And, when I started the process, home educated students were not eligible for dual enrollment, but they are now. It was worth it to me to jump the hoops on this end.

 

I would only add that even though homeschooled students can now apply for dual enrollment, they are not eligible for ACCEL funds to pay for the classes. With accreditation, my dc can attend college as juniors in hs and the classes are paid for by ACCEL.

[Joan in GE]

Bev or Jenny, is the Georgian accreditation for non-traditional schools received as well in other states as accreditation for traditional schools? ie do you get the same advantages in not having to supply extra SAT II scores etc?

 

Thanks!

Joan

[Corraleno]

I had been thinking about NARS and how they were accredited by some organization and by the state of Maine. But it bothers me that when you look at what is required - 60 hours for a credit - it would look like we have done almost nothing. So to me their credits are not worth paying for.

Their minimum is actually "160 half-hour sessions," or 80 hours, per credit, which I believe is the state requirement in Maine.

 

The standard "Carnegie Unit" is 120 hrs, which is equivalent to 160 45-minute sessions. If you think about what % of a typical PS class is spent actually learning, and how much is spent taking attendance, getting books out, waiting for someone to answer a question, etc., it's probably less than half an hour, so 80 hours of actual seat-time in a homeschool may be pretty close to what kids in PS get. However, you can require any number of hours you want in your own homeschool: 80, 100, 120, 150... whatever seems right to you. You're not limited by the NARS minimum if you use them for accreditation.

 

Jackie

[Joan in GE]

Jackie, you are right about it being 80 hrs. I should learn not to trust my memory and verify before quoting numbers.:blushing:

 

But did you know that now a Carnegie Unit in some parts of the US is actually 144 hrs? (on Wikipedia) I understand the arguments about the waste of time in PS, but typically there is homework done too which increases the time actually spent on a subject.

 

I understand too that a student can work way more than 80 hrs for the credit. But since the numbers of hours aren't typically quoted on a transcript, and if the administrator starts poking around on the NARHS website, how are they to know that my standard for the work my son does is much higher and not just the minimum?

 

That's why I'm thinking it might be helpful to have an umbrella school that reflects my standards...

 

Thanks though!

Joan

[Bev in B'ville]

For the local CC my dd is attending under dual enrollment, it meant that no, we did not have to jump through all the other hoops that homeschooled students are made to jump through. Other states, though? I don't know yet. We are in the process of applying to schools this summer. My dd is set on attending college out of state. My best answer to this is to stay tuned and I'll let you know later. I do know when we visited Duke, they could care less about accreditation.

[Mad Jenny Flint]

I think that Georgia is a lot more of a stickler on the extra requirements than many other places, and since that is where I live, I decided to make it a little easier on my children. If other states are difficult, we will cross that bridge as we come to it; or choose not to cross. The door, at least, will be open in GA.

 

And the $200 is for each consultant visit. As far as states accrediting schools, I have no idea about that. I believe they are all accredited by agencies who oversee the process, but really, what do I know?

[Joan in GE]

I do know when we visited Duke' date=' they could care less about accreditation.[/quote']

 

Did you mention that your homeschool was accredited? or was that not a criteria in their admissions info?

 

Please update about which schools actually cared about your accreditation and which didn't when you get more feedback.

 

I guess I was remembering a thread long ago where we were discussing Georgia Tech and how they would accept a diploma from state accredited schools (presuming from other states).

 

Maybe accreditation is more an admission issue with state schools, and private schools just look at achievements?

 

Thanks!

Joan

[Bev in B'ville]

Yes, the accreditation is by a Georgia agency and is, in fact, the same agency that accredits our public and private schools. It would be almost impossible for an institution in our state to ignore our accreditation status. (Especially since a certain school district in Georgia lost their accreditation and those graduating students were applying to Georgia schools.)

 

To clarify what I meant about Duke: The advisor we met with lumped all homeschooled students together, regardless of accreditation. All hoops that they have in place for homeschooled students would apply to us as well. The advisor was very flippant in his remarks when I mentioned we were accredited (in a way that immediately ticked me off).

 

Once we've finished applying to schools and have gone through the entire process, I'll post a thread stating which schools were easy to work with and which weren't (probably on the college thread board) and which cared about accreditation.

 

Honestly, I think the bottom line for most schools that we've spoken to thus far seems to be the validation of "mommy grades" through external means. For example, AP scores, scores from classes taken outside the home (e.g. online) and dual enrollment classes at the local CC. Then there are the standardized test scores such as SAT and ACT.

 

Accreditation will only get you so far, even in Georgia. As more and more students are applying to college here because it's free with HOPE (for Georgia citizens), the scores from standardized tests are becoming more and more important and the cutoffs higher and higher. If you look at UGA and examine their mean SAT scores for the past several years, you'll see it gets higher every year. Teachers in GA have been under a lot of pressure to curve grades in order for their students to be eligible for HOPE (which requires a 3.0 GPA for eligibility). The universities/colleges have had no choice but to use external validation measures for their admittance decisions. Homeschooler's will have to follow suit and have those external validators in order to stay competitive. JMHO.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Never heard of any such thing here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. I imagine it would be possible only in states which regard homeschools as private schools. We are not classified as private schools in this state.

 

Yolanda

 

How we do suffer here don't we? :D