Accredited Schools Are Excellent Schools and Excellent Schools Seek Accreditation

The idea behind accreditation is to provide students and parents with an assurance of quality and safety in operation, and to determine whether a school is actually accomplishing what it says it is achieving, and if it is being consistent with its stated mission and purpose.  The process of accreditation , especially among schools in higher eduation, has been around since the mid-1800's.  It mainly involves an evaluation of school performance to ensure that the students are not held back from advancement opportunities and choices which affect their success in life.  This includes making sure that academic standards lead to success, but also that the school's environment is safe, its staff is trained and qualified in the field of education, its extracurricular programs are challenging and beneficial and any special education or advanced programs meet those expectations.  

And for religious-based private schools, accreditation also includes whether they are delivering on providing the spiritual atmosphere and the Biblical education parents expect.  Accreditation is not, and never has been a requirement of the state.  All of the six regional accreditation agencies which perform team visits and evaluations are private, as are those who exclusively grant private school accreditation.  In fact, our accreditation commission, which is affiliated with ACSI, is also able to grant regional accreditation, since most of the standards are the same.  

Why Accreditation is Valuable for Christian Schools

In most states, Illinois included, private education is virtually unregulated.  Aside from laws regarding building occupancy and safety, a private school can be established and operated without any oversight from the state at all, and there is no way to determine whether the students will be prepared for the next level of education when they graduate.  And while most Christian schools understand that being Christian means they must do their best for their constituents, in the eyes of the Lord, the history of the Christian school movement is not always a good one when it comes to the outcomes for students.  

We have seen Christian schools started in order to provide a place for parents and students to avoid public school integration.  These "segregation academies," started in the 60's, mostly in southern states, used church buildings to hold classes, couldn't afford to pay certified, trained teachers, and the academic outcomes were poor.  The whole of the Christian school movement has been tagged with the reputation for poor academics, and for graduating illiterate students because of the existence of these schools.  The one good thing that came out of this era was that most Christian schools now are very self-conscious and meticulous when it comes to academic standards and excellence. 

We've also had churches and parent groups start small Christian schools using a self-paced set of workbooks, providing instruction almost entirely by this method.  The academic outcomes of these schools also contributed to the perception that Christian schools aren't good at academics.  There are still a few of both kinds of these schools left, but for the most part, the emphasis on school accreditation that is a central theme for Christian schools who are affiliated with ACSI has helped not only improve public perception, but has helped parents make good choices when it comes to enrolling their children in a Christian school.  

What Accreditation Says About a School 

I've served on several accreditation teams over the course of the twenty years I have spent in Christian school education.  I've been a member of teams that were providing accreditation for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and for ACSI commissions.  The only difference is that ACSI places a higher emphasis on the school's mission and purpose, as it relates to their identity as a Christian school, and it contains standards which are directly related to the school's spiritual emphasis.  The standards, as far as academics, curriculum objectives, extra-curricular programs, facilities and grounds, and financial integrity, are basically the same.    

What accreditation says is that a school is providing everything parents expect fro enrolling their children based on the school's stated mission and purpose.  It is doing what it says it is doing, and children who are students are progressing at a level that meets or exceeds the standard expectations of any school.  

One of the things accreditation has shown about Midwestern Christian Academy is consistency in both spiritual atmosphere and academics.  We've had some significant disruptions in educatin across the board in recent years, with the Covid pandemic causing an entire year's worth of education to be complletely altered.  Virtually every state in the union has changed its standards and objectives because, as research now shows, e-learning was a massive failure.  We were fortunate that we returned in the fall, and that our students continued with their education.  

We received our initial accreditation in 2022, after the pandemic, and our commendations, for the spiritual atmosphere of our campus, and for our academic progress, say everything we need to say about the excellence of our school.  

Sometimes, it may seem routine.  But we have alumni in high schools all over this part of the city who are at or near the top of their class in their high school experience.  There are improvements we can always make, some of them based on recommendations left behind by our peers on the accreditation team, but our accreditation says that MCA is an excellent school, and we have achieved a milestone that marks our excellence.