From our email at kingdomeducator@yahoo.com

You can email questions or comments to kingdomeducator@yahoo.com and we will give you a direct answer within 24 hours.  Some of the questions we receive, like those below, deal with topics that many families with children in Christian schools have in common. 

We are planning to enroll our two children, grades 6 and 3, in a Christian school in our neighborhood.  We’ve looked at several and are now thoroughly confused over the “alphabet soup” related to accreditation.  We’ve heard from one admissions counselor that it really doesn’t matter, and from another that a particular kind of accreditation is necessary if our kids want to have a choice of where they go to college.  We finally figured out all of that stuff where we used to live, and now we have a whole new and confusing tangle of issues to deal with.  How do we know what is legitimate, and what isn’t? Amanda K., Houston, Texas

Well, Amanda, is many places it isn’t easy.  But you live in Texas, and that’s easier than it is in some places.  The most important “alphabet soup” designation you need to know there is TEPSAC, which is somewhat of an acronym for Texas Private School Accreditation Commission.  They have a website, http://tepsac.org which is very helpful.  Basically, since the Texas Education Agency (TEA) got out of the private school accreditation business back in 1986, TEPSAC has been responsible for oversight of private schools.  It authorizes various school organizations to elect commissioners who, in turn, are responsible for granting accreditation to their member schools.  So to answer your question, simply find out which organization granted the accreditation to the school you are looking at, and then find out if it is a member of TEPSAC. 

Accreditation is not necessarily a sign of a quality education.  What it means is that the school which is accredited adheres to a specific set of standards related to its course content and instruction.  It mainly does two things for the schools, students and teachers involved.  First, it assures that coursework taken at an accredited school will transfer to another school without difficulty.  Second, in Texas, it allows teachers who work in private schools to count their years of experience toward salary steps and raises if they move to another school.  In Texas, TEPSAC, acting as an umbrella organization for private school accreditation commissions, allows Christian schools to have their course content and operating procedures evaluated by individuals who come from a background that understands their philosophy of education, their convictions and the integration of Biblical principles into the curriculum.  Though some Christian schools have opted to seek accreditation from SACS, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, this is a secular agency that also accredits public schools.  That should tell you that their standards are neither any more thorough, nor higher, than those of the TEPSAC member organizations.  In fact, at The Kingdom Educator, we advise parents to give much closer scrutiny to the Biblical, spiritual element of Christian schools that have SACS accreditation before enrolling their children in them, since they are a secular body, and schools which engage in the accreditation process with them are submitting themselves to the evaluation and scrutiny of people who do not understand a Christian school educational philosophy, or who might not even be from a Christian background. 

Some Christian schools opt not to seek accreditation, but prefer to remain completely independent.  This does not necessarily mean that they are offering an inferior education.  If you check out where their graduates are admitted and attend college, and look at indicators of student achievement, you can tell a lot about the quality of education that takes place there.  Sometimes, graduates of unaccredited Christian schools do experience difficulty getting into a college, particularly if it is a state college where the admissions counselors are not familiar with the school, but there are ways around that.  In some cases, the local colleges and universities are aware of the school, having encountered former graduates.  And college admissions boards also look at other student achievements, including the SAT or ACT scores.  We are aware of several Christian schools in Texas who have arrangements with local colleges for dual credit courses that transfer, even if the student opts not to attend the college that is granting the credit. 

Outside of Texas, you can check with your state education agency office and find out how private, Christian schools are accredited in your state.