23 November 1998
President Donald S. Stanton
Oglethorpe University
4484 Peachtree Road, NE
Atlanta, Georgia, 30319
Dear President Stanton:
The ACCREDITING COMMISSION FOR INDEPENDENT STUDY, Inc. is a
relatively new agency
established for the purpose of making a professional
evaluation and giving a professional recognition to
entities that are offering study in the myriad ways in which
education is disseminated today, such as: home
schools; tutorials; distance teaming; programmed
instruction; etc. Five professional educators and
accreditation leaders sensed that no existing commission was
providing service for these new directions in
the state and joined together to form this non-profit and
non-govemment commission.
The accreditation process is applied to a "center for
independent study" that enrolls high school students
and assumes accountability for academic credits. The center
may be an existing school, a church, an
agency that serves as tutor for the young, a supporting group
of parents, or some non-traditional program.
While the commission is in infancy, we have accredited four
centers covering approximately 900 students
in the Atlanta area. Most of these students and their parents
have a deep appreciation of private colleges.
Without this commission, there is absolutely no professional
accrediting agency to discriminate between
the instructional process as applied to these students.
We feel as does Stanley 0. Ikenberry of the American
Council on Education when in his letter to member
colleges on 27 April 1998 he suggested "---give due
consideration to the use of portfolio - and performance
- based assessments in making decisions regarding these
applicants [home schoolers] as an alternative to
additional standardized testing." The ACCREDITING
COMMISSION FOR INDEPENDENT STUDY,
INC. can give colleges a traditional and cherished pattern
for making decisions about the admission of
students from non-traditional programs. Further, if you are
inclined to be supportive of having an agency of
this nature available to better serve the many new directions
in education for the children of Georgia, I
would deeply appreciate a letter from you expressing your
support.
With kind regards, I am,
Sincerely,
W. Starr Miller
Executive Director![[News page]](images/news.gif)
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