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Private schools must be accredited to be considered a legitimate alternative to public schools. Accreditation is provided by independent bodies and private school accreditation agencies, and the standards required revolve around curriculum, faculty quality, class hours, and standardized test score averages. Governments are interested in ensuring the quality of education, and often work with accreditation bodies to enforce minimum requirements.
In most countries, education is a requirement provided by the government for children up to a certain age. Parents can usually choose to send their children to private schools instead of sending them to government-sponsored public schools. Most of the time, private schools must be accredited to be considered a legitimate alternative to public school. Government-recognized accreditation is most important, but other regional or organization-based accreditations are also generally available. The type of particular school accreditation that a school receives depends in part on its location and the accrediting bodies available, but also on the nature of the school and the general quality of the education that is provided there.
The whole point of private school accreditation is to prove, through some objective, that the education offered behind the walls meets or exceeds national standards. If parents are going to pay to send their children to a private school, they usually want some tangible assurance that the education their children receive is as good or better as it would be in a public school. The government is also interested in ensuring the quality of private education. The quality of education is usually an issue of some national importance, and governments typically require proof that a private option is at least equivalent to a state education before allowing a child to opt out of public education.
Most private school accreditation is provided by independent bodies or private school accreditation agencies. These groups are usually made up of consortia of similarly situated private schools. Schools, in many ways, police themselves, holding themselves accountable for maintaining high standards. Obtaining accreditation generally requires participation in these accreditation groups and long-term adherence to accreditation standards.
Independent accreditation bodies often seek government recognition for their efforts. National governments rarely accredit private schools, but often recognize certain independent accrediting bodies, provided they meet certain standards. The standards required to be an accredited private school generally revolve around curriculum, faculty quality, class hours, and standardized test score averages, among other things.
A private school in primary or secondary education generally must be accredited by a government-recognised accreditation body to present itself as a viable alternative to the public school. There are other types of accreditation, however. If the private school is religiously affiliated, it may also be accredited by a church or diocese, for example. Some states and cities also have accrediting bodies that accredit selected schools. Accreditation requirements for so-called “specialist” groups vary, and the ultimate award or rejection of accreditation generally remains independent of whether the school is recognized by the state as providing an acceptable education.
Private school accreditation is also available to private colleges and universities at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Because university-level education is not a national requirement in any country, governments are typically not as involved in higher education accreditation as they are in primary and secondary education. Still, most governments are interested in ensuring that private colleges and universities operating within their borders are providing certain minimum levels of education. As a result, governments often work with the private school accreditation bodies that govern private colleges and universities to help them set standards and enforce minimum requirements.
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