Is High School Accreditation Necessary? (Jerry Brodkey)
Jerry Brodkey teaches at Menlo-Atherton High School in Menlo Park, California. He has been a public secondary school teacher since 1975, and has taught most of the subjects in Social Studies and Mathematics. He now teaches remedial algebra and Advanced Placement Calculus. His undergraduate degree was from Rice University (BA 1974), and has graduate degrees from Stanford (MA 1976, Ph.D. 1987).
Menlo-Atherton High School, in Menlo Park, California, where I have taught since 1983, just finished its accreditation process. The general public may not be aware, but schools in California undergo a review process under the auspices of the Western Association of School and Colleges (known as WASC). Schools do a self-study, prepare documents, and develop a school plan. A visiting team then comes for a few days, meets with various school groups, and issues a judgment on whether or not the school will be accredited. The visiting team has different options. It can issue a six-year accreditation, a three-year accreditation with a re-visit at that time, or in rare instances can refuse to accredit a school. In the past, the accreditation process was important as it was deemed that having outsiders judge the worthiness of a school was essential to maintain quality. Colleges and employers might look to see if a high school
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