5 things you need to know about criminal justice school accreditation

When deciding which criminal justice program to• the Northwest Association of Schools
attend, the accreditation issue is very important.and Colleges (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,
There are certain things that you should knowOregon, Utah and Washington).
about accreditation.The two spin-offs are:
1. What is accreditation?• the Western Association's Accrediting
Accreditation means that a school and itsCommission for Senior Colleges and Universities
programs have been peer reviewed through site(see WICHE Best Practices), and,
visits by bodies recognized and authorized by the• the North Central's Higher Learning
US Department of Education to do so. It,Commission (see NCA Best Practices).
therefore, ultimately means that degrees obtainedIf your school is accredited by one of these eight
from accredited schools are recognized across(8) groups, which receive U.S. Dept. of Education
the nation and are accepted as valid byfunding and operate primarily by site visit-peer
employers.review, then you need not worry -- your school
1. Who are the recognized accreditation bodies?has the best accreditation there is.
The US Department of Education funds eight1. Are there other accreditation bodies?
accreditation bodies. There are six regionalThere are other accreditation bodies and many
accreditation (RA) bodies and two spin-offs ofonline schools proudly advertise that they are
two of the six RA bodies. These bodies areaccredited by one or the other of these bodies.
authorized to grant accreditations to schools fallingBut these so-called accrediting bodies are
within their specified regional jurisdictions.themselves not accredited so that their
These bodies are:accreditations are not worth the paper they are
• the New England Association ofwritten on.
Schools and Colleges (Connecticut, Maine,Out of all these other accrediting bodies there are
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island andsome that are simply blacklisted and not
Vermont);recognized while there are others that may be
• the Southern Association of Collegesaccepted as valid in 30 per cent of the
and Schools (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,organizations that matter. Employers, on the
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,other hand, are likely to reject outright degrees
Tennessee, Texas and Virginia);given by schools accredited by these other
• the Middle States Association ofagencies.
Colleges and Schools (Delaware, the District of1. Is there a list of blacklisted schools or a list of
Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York,schools whose degrees are not recognized?
Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,Yes, at present there are two such lists. One list
and Panama);has been prepared by the state of Michigan and
• the North Central Association ofanother prepared by the state of Oregon.
Colleges and Schools (Arkansas, Arizona,Employers use these lists to check whether a
Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan,particular degree from a particular school is
Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio,worthless or not.
Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin,1. Is accreditation a really important issue?
West Virginia, and Wyoming);Yes! It is the most important issue when you are
• the Western Association of Schoolsdeciding which criminal justice school you should
and Colleges (California, Hawaii, the territories ofenroll in. If the school you enroll in is not
Guam, American Samoa, Federated States ofaccredited, then the degree that you earn after
Micronesia, Republic of Palau, Commonwealth ofspending a lot of money and effort will not be
the Northern Marianas Islands, the Pacific Basin,worth the paper it is written on. You will be a
and East Asia); and,sucker of the worst kind!