ACCREDITATION
| Enroll Today! For your convenience, an application is provided. Just Click Below! $50.00 non-refundable registration fee |
| Accredited through: AAA (The Association of Academic Accreditation) |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Defining Accreditation
How many times have you bought a book because it has some kind of award connected
with it—maybe the Newbery or a less-famous accolade - only to discover that you were not as
pleased with it as you had been with a book no one had really heard of? Perhaps the Newbery
committee that year had several people on it who were more interested in message than in
style. Thus you got a prize-winning book that told an interesting story but did not fulfill all of
your literary standards.
Yes this article is about accreditation of elementary and secondary schools not literary prizes.
But the analogy raises questions that apply in both realms: Who chooses what is approved?
Where does the authority for the decision rest?
In a sense, school-accrediting associations are like literary-prize committees. They are
composed of professionals in the field (usually these people are nominated from member
institutions and then selected for assignments based on background and experience).
Accrediting associations also have certain published standards that they judge by.
Like literary committees, accrediting associations are private, nongovernmental groups. Their
authority exists in the agreement of all the members (and of all who submit to them for
approval) that their approval has value. Membership in accrediting associations is entirely
voluntarily, as is applications for approval.
The government, on both state and federal levels, does sometimes use accrediting association’s
approval as a gatekeeper. No accreditation from a recognized agency? No eligibility, then, to
apply for a certain program or grant. But a lack of approval from an accrediting association
cannot close down a school or force it to change its policies.
Accreditation associations do not accredit textbook companies. There are no accrediting texts
that have the nod from adopting agencies, but there is no such thing as an “accredited
curriculum.”
Schools may not be accredited or several reasons. Of course, a school may not meet those
standards of the associations doing the evaluation. Or it may be a new school - too new to be
evaluated effectively. Or it may be that for doctrinal or philosophical reasons, the school does
not ask for accreditation.
Thus not being accredited - that is, not evaluation and approved by a private association - does
not necessarily mean that the school is below standard. And being accredited does not mean
that a school is better than a well-run unaccredited one. It means that a school, or a certain
period of time, is deemed by an association to have met the academic standards set by that
association.
And so we are back to the analogy. Any evaluating agency - whether literary or academic - is
as good as its predetermined standards and its consultants’ ability to interpret and uphold those
standards.
The goal of accrediting associations is to hold to account schools and administration. They
hope to raise the bar for all their members. To do that, they use a blend of formalized peer
pressure and the classroom grading scale. And no one doubt that standards help keep schools
honest.
For approval in an association, a school must abide by the rules of the association. And while
Christian accrediting associations are far more trustworthy and qualified than non-Christian
ones for judging Christian schools, some administrations still prefer not to apply for
accreditation and thus keep their option of deciding in all details how their schools will operate.
Accreditation is not failsafe. Less than stellar schools may pass here and there and very good
schools may not apply for approval. And while associations may uphold generally agreed-upon
standards, really strong parent-teacher associations might just have more influence than an
accrediting association on how well a school is run.
So parents looking at schools for their children (and teachers considering where to work and
administrators thinking about applying for school accreditation) have the option of the
shorthand that accreditation offers. And they may want to do their own evaluation of the
school accredited or unaccredited.
The Newberry committee can give its opinion of the best book of any given year. But it is,
finally, up to the reader to decide for himself what he thinks of the work.
(Written by Dawn Watkins, Manager of Corporate Communications at BJU Press and Author
of several textbooks and Journey Books)
ACCREDITATION
Southern Bible Institute and Seminary holds full accreditation with the Association of Academic
Accreditation (AAA), and is a recognized member of the Association of Christian School
International (ACSI).
Accreditation is primarily designed for accountability to:
1. Certify that an institution has met the established standards of excellence.
2. Assist prospective students in identifying reputable instructions, which
offer degree programs that will meet their needs and goals.
3. Allow instructions to evaluate the acceptability of transfer credits into
their own curricula programs.
Southern Bible Institute and Seminary degrees are of an ecclesiastical nature and, whether
granted or conferred, are in the restricted area of religion with the special purpose of preparing
persons to work in the area of religion-whether Educational, Ministerial, or Counseling- and are
NOT necessarily designed to be used in general academic circles.
Southern Bible Institute and Seminary, while rooted in the doctrinal beliefs of the Southern
Baptist churches, has enjoyed a wide acceptance of credits across denominational boundaries.
Southern Bible Institute and Seminary graduates may be found serving as authors,
administrators, counselors, evangelists, pastors, principals, mental health workers, hospital
chaplains, and private school teachers.
Transferability of credits earned at Southern Bible Institute and Seminary and transferred to
another institution is at the discretion of the receiving institution.
How many times have you bought a book because it has some kind of award connected
with it—maybe the Newbery or a less-famous accolade - only to discover that you were not as
pleased with it as you had been with a book no one had really heard of? Perhaps the Newbery
committee that year had several people on it who were more interested in message than in
style. Thus you got a prize-winning book that told an interesting story but did not fulfill all of
your literary standards.
Yes this article is about accreditation of elementary and secondary schools not literary prizes.
But the analogy raises questions that apply in both realms: Who chooses what is approved?
Where does the authority for the decision rest?
In a sense, school-accrediting associations are like literary-prize committees. They are
composed of professionals in the field (usually these people are nominated from member
institutions and then selected for assignments based on background and experience).
Accrediting associations also have certain published standards that they judge by.
Like literary committees, accrediting associations are private, nongovernmental groups. Their
authority exists in the agreement of all the members (and of all who submit to them for
approval) that their approval has value. Membership in accrediting associations is entirely
voluntarily, as is applications for approval.
The government, on both state and federal levels, does sometimes use accrediting association’s
approval as a gatekeeper. No accreditation from a recognized agency? No eligibility, then, to
apply for a certain program or grant. But a lack of approval from an accrediting association
cannot close down a school or force it to change its policies.
Accreditation associations do not accredit textbook companies. There are no accrediting texts
that have the nod from adopting agencies, but there is no such thing as an “accredited
curriculum.”
Schools may not be accredited or several reasons. Of course, a school may not meet those
standards of the associations doing the evaluation. Or it may be a new school - too new to be
evaluated effectively. Or it may be that for doctrinal or philosophical reasons, the school does
not ask for accreditation.
Thus not being accredited - that is, not evaluation and approved by a private association - does
not necessarily mean that the school is below standard. And being accredited does not mean
that a school is better than a well-run unaccredited one. It means that a school, or a certain
period of time, is deemed by an association to have met the academic standards set by that
association.
And so we are back to the analogy. Any evaluating agency - whether literary or academic - is
as good as its predetermined standards and its consultants’ ability to interpret and uphold those
standards.
The goal of accrediting associations is to hold to account schools and administration. They
hope to raise the bar for all their members. To do that, they use a blend of formalized peer
pressure and the classroom grading scale. And no one doubt that standards help keep schools
honest.
For approval in an association, a school must abide by the rules of the association. And while
Christian accrediting associations are far more trustworthy and qualified than non-Christian
ones for judging Christian schools, some administrations still prefer not to apply for
accreditation and thus keep their option of deciding in all details how their schools will operate.
Accreditation is not failsafe. Less than stellar schools may pass here and there and very good
schools may not apply for approval. And while associations may uphold generally agreed-upon
standards, really strong parent-teacher associations might just have more influence than an
accrediting association on how well a school is run.
So parents looking at schools for their children (and teachers considering where to work and
administrators thinking about applying for school accreditation) have the option of the
shorthand that accreditation offers. And they may want to do their own evaluation of the
school accredited or unaccredited.
The Newberry committee can give its opinion of the best book of any given year. But it is,
finally, up to the reader to decide for himself what he thinks of the work.
(Written by Dawn Watkins, Manager of Corporate Communications at BJU Press and Author
of several textbooks and Journey Books)
ACCREDITATION
Southern Bible Institute and Seminary holds full accreditation with the Association of Academic
Accreditation (AAA), and is a recognized member of the Association of Christian School
International (ACSI).
Accreditation is primarily designed for accountability to:
1. Certify that an institution has met the established standards of excellence.
2. Assist prospective students in identifying reputable instructions, which
offer degree programs that will meet their needs and goals.
3. Allow instructions to evaluate the acceptability of transfer credits into
their own curricula programs.
Southern Bible Institute and Seminary degrees are of an ecclesiastical nature and, whether
granted or conferred, are in the restricted area of religion with the special purpose of preparing
persons to work in the area of religion-whether Educational, Ministerial, or Counseling- and are
NOT necessarily designed to be used in general academic circles.
Southern Bible Institute and Seminary, while rooted in the doctrinal beliefs of the Southern
Baptist churches, has enjoyed a wide acceptance of credits across denominational boundaries.
Southern Bible Institute and Seminary graduates may be found serving as authors,
administrators, counselors, evangelists, pastors, principals, mental health workers, hospital
chaplains, and private school teachers.
Transferability of credits earned at Southern Bible Institute and Seminary and transferred to
another institution is at the discretion of the receiving institution.
| Members of: |