Pre-tertiary-education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of pre-tertiary schools and educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met.[1]
In Canada, 93 primary and secondary independent schools are accredited by SEAL Canada.[2] These 93 schools meet National Standards that are internationally recognized by both the National Association of Independent Schools [3] and the Association of Accrediting Agencies of Canada.[4]
In the United States, educational accreditation has long been established as a peer review process coordinated by accreditation commissions and member institutions. With the creation of the U.S. Department of Education and under the terms of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, the U.S. Secretary of Education is required by law to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies for higher education. There is no similar federal government list of recognised accreditation agencies for primary and secondary schools. Public schools must adhere to criteria set by the state governments, and there is wide variation among the individual states in the requirements applied to non-public primary and secondary schools.[5] There are six regional accreditors in the United States that have historically accredited (and therefore include among their membership) most elementary schools, junior high schools, middle schools, high schools, as well as nearly all public and private institutions of higher education that are academic in nature.
Some states, including Missouri[6] and North Dakota,[7] accredit public secondary schools within their borders.