Practical Answers about Accreditation

(Thank you Kim Smith)
Anonymous said...
Can I change the subject for a minute? I know this may be old news to some, but I am having a hard time getting solid information on the ramifications of losing accreditation. I contacted a couple of state schools (Carolina and State) and they assured me that losing accreditation would not impact admission or scholarships, but I spoke with someone at WPCC who mentioned that they have to have transcripts from an accredited school to consider the person for Pell grants. It seems that this issue is so political that is hard to find real answers. While I hope we are looking at probation, I want to know the effects of lose of accreditation so I can make informed decisions for my childrens' future. Georgia has a different system with their lottery money scholarships so I don't think we can rely entirely on what happened in Clayton County. Can anyone just give information on where to get this information without any bias?
August 17, 2009 7:24 PM

Kim Smith said...
Just completed the college search and application process with our oldest daughter and will begin searching colleges with my son (a high school junior) this year. Accreditation has been, and is, a huge concern at our home. I'll try to respond from a practical standpoint based on my experiences so far. What I've seen is that accreditation is required for application for some colleges and not at others. It varies. Some scholarships (especially governmental/military ones) require graduation from accredited high schools. Some scholarships don't require graduation from an accredited high school. Just like the schools, it varies. There's really no "bias", there is just discrepancy in what is required. If your children are young, don't panic...work as hard as you can to get a change in the BOE majority in November. If you have a child that is a rising junior or senior in high school, contact the colleges in which your child is interested, tell them the situation, and ask them what they would do if they were you. Make your decisions based on that. Then, work hard to change the BOE majority in November.
So, there is nothing "political" about this except that the behavior of the current board majority is what put us in this situation. Only a change in their behavior (I'm not betting on that!), or a change in the board majority will get us back on the right path. The good thing is that the reason accreditation is at risk at all has NOTHING to do with academics. As long as we get a change in the BOE BEFORE it begins having an impact on academics, we can turn this around. I will be helping as much as possible to encourage voter turnout and support SWAT in November. If a change in the BOE majority does not happen in the November election, we do not expect BCPS to keep accreditation or to re-gain it. As a result, we will likely transfer our children to an accredited school system in order not to limit their college choices.
August 17, 2009 10:47 PM