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Accreditation is the process used by colleges and high schools to determine a minimum level of quality in an educational program. While it is a far from perfect process, it does at least give students a way to determine which programs would be acceptable to colleges. A high school diploma that does not come from an accredited program is often rejected as a basis for college admission.

In addition to the regional accreditors, there are specialized accreditors. The most well-known of these is the Distance Education and Training Council (www.detc.org). It is a national accreditor, and in one of the oddities of education in America, national accreditation is considered to a lesser form of accreditation. However, my money is on DETC making the leap to equal status with the regional accreditors, particular for high school accreditation.

Many colleges and universities will not accept high school diplomas from online and traditional high schools that are not accredited. If you start your high school education at one school and then want to transfer to another school, it is common for the unaccredited credits not to transfer. Yes, that could mean that you would need to take classes again that you had already taken.

Accredited programs often, but not always, really are of a higher quality. The fact is that unaccredited high schools would become accredited if they thought there was the possibility that they would pass that rigorous assessment. At the high school level, there is no reason to use an unaccredited program.

When shopping around for an accredited home school program, look for those programs that are acceptable to the colleges your child is interested in attending. Graduating from an accredited program can make the difference in what colleges will accept your child. If you need to, call the admissions department of the schools your child is interested in attending and ask them to verify their acceptance of the home school programs you are researching. Some accredited programs are indirectly affiliated with specific colleges, making it even easier for your child to be accepted to those particular schools upon graduation.

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