Welcome

In 1939, University of Buffalo chancellor Samuel P. Capen delivered his famous "Seven Devils in Exchange for One" address, one of the first public criticisms of regional accreditation agencies. Capen declared, "Responsible administrators of influential institutions in various parts of the country are tired of having the educational and financial policies of their institutions dictated by a horde of irresponsible outsiders, each representing a separate selfish interest." Over 70 years later, North Carolina school districts are still beholden to hordes of irresponsible outsiders representing selfish interests. Is accreditation obsolete in an era of testing and accountability?

Bulletin Board

  • The John Locke Foundation is sponsoring a Citizen’s Constitutional Workshop on Saturday, April 2, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Brunswick Community College: Main Campus-Building A, Room A-231 in Bolivia, NC. Historian Dr. Troy Kickler and political science expert Dr. Michael Sanera will discuss "What the Founders and the State Ratification Conventions Can Teach Us Today." The cost is $10.00 per participant, lunch included. Pre-registration is strongly suggested. For more information or to sign up for the event, visit the Events section of the John Locke Foundation website.

  • On Thursday, April 14, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public Schools and the Civitas Institute of Raleigh are sponsoring a half-day education budget seminar. The seminar is open to school board members and school leaders throughout North Carolina and will be focused exclusively on current budget problems and strategies for addressing these challenges. The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public Schools Training Building (4801 Bethania Station Road, Winston-Salem, NC) will be the training site. Registration for the event is $30.00 and includes lunch. After April 7, registration will be $40.00. Register online at www.nccivitas.org/events or by calling 919-834-2099.

  • The North Carolina History Project would like educators and homeschool parents to submit lesson plans suitable for middle and high school courses in North Carolina history. Please provide links to NC History Project encyclopedia articles and other primary and secondary source material, if possible. Go to http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/edu_corner for further information.

  • You will find wisdom, knowledge, and purpose at our research newsletter archive.

CommenTerry

In 1907, Woodrow Wilson, then president of Princeton University, declared,

We are on the eve of a period of reconstruction. We are on the eve of a period when we are going to set up standards. We are on the eve of a period of synthesis, when tired of this dispersion and standard-less analysis, we are going to put things together something like a connected and thought-out scheme of endeavor. It is inevitable.

His audience consisted of members of the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges, a regional accreditation agency organized in 1887. Wilson and his fellow progressives pledged to impose order — their order — during an era when many institutions of higher education experimented with new educational philosophies, courses of study, and curricula. For these reconstructionists, it was time to reign in institutional and educational diversity with a "connected and thought-out scheme" of their design. The education accreditation agency was born. Apparently, its birth was inevitable. After all, it was the eve of a period of synthesis.

Like many of the features of our modern public school systems, accreditation agencies are creatures of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At the time of Wilson’s address to the Middle States Association, education reformers had established four regional accreditation agencies. The New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (1885) was the first. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools were founded in 1895. Accreditation agencies for northwestern and western states were founded in 1917 and 1962, respectively.

Fortunately, not everyone agreed with Wilson’s vision. University of Buffalo chancellor Samuel Capen was one of the first university officials to declare publicly that regional accreditation agencies cared more about power and control, what he called "separate selfish interest," than upholding objective assessments of educational quality. His boldness, however, was the exception and not the rule. By the time Capen delivered his "Seven Devils in Exchange for One" address in 1939, these agencies had accumulated enough power, political capital, and geographic reach to keep most educational leaders deferential to the accreditation process and the organizations that conducted it.

This historical context helps us to understand the recent accreditation controversies between AdvancED and school districts in Wake and Burke counties. Since the formation of regional accreditation agencies in the late nineteenth century, educators like Capen have recognized that these organizations are guided by politics and power, not academic excellence. How else could one explain the decision of AdvancED to grant accreditation to low-performing schools in Halifax County but rebuke above-average districts like Wake and Burke?

Proponents of AdvancED, including the organization’s leadership, argue that the goal of accreditation is to provide accountability. I take this argument seriously. Nevertheless, providing accountability through accreditation reviews, perhaps a sound idea in the early 20th century, is obsolete in the 21st century. Comprehensive testing, increased opportunities for school choice, and advances in communication and information technology provide accountability in ways that are superior to any contrived AdvancED review.

Random Thought

March Madness for the rest of the world, the ICC Cricket World Cup, is in full swing, and ESPNcricinfo is the place to go for up-to-the minute details of the action. On Sunday, ESPNcricinfo reported, "MS Dhoni, the India captain, identified Zaheer Khan’s dismissal of Devon Smith in the first over of his second spell as the turning point of the match at Chepauk. Zaheer had only bowled two overs in his first spell and was, presumably, being saved for when the ball got a bit older and reverse-swing came into play. He struck with the older ball, in the 31st over, with a slower ball that bowled Smith, who had anchored West Indies’ chase with a well-compiled 81." Can you believe that?

Facts and Stats

23,917 – Total Accredited, Candidate, and Applicant Schools served by AdvancED (2009-2010 Annual Report)

Mailbag

I would like to invite all readers to submit announcements, as well as their personal insights, anecdotes, concerns, and observations about the state of education in North Carolina. I will publish selected submissions in future editions of the newsletter. Anonymity will be honored. For additional information or to send a submission, email Terry at [email protected].

Education Acronym of the Week

QAR – Quality Assurance Review

Quote of the Week

"In the first four hypotheses, data revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in student achievement in language arts, mathematics, science and social studies from SACS accredited schools compared to non-SACS accredited schools. Data from hypothesis number five demonstrated that there was no statistically significant differences in achievement of SACS accredited Title I schools compared to non-SACS accredited Title I schools. The test from hypothesis number six revealed that there were no statistically significant differences on achievement from SACS accredited schools in the various minority categories compared to non-SACS accredited schools in the various minority categories. These results suggest that SACS accreditation has a limited influence on student achievement."

— Talitha L. Willard, "The influences of Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation on student achievement in Tennessee elementary and middle schools," Ed.D. dissertation, Tennessee State University, 2005.

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