ACSI Accreditation - March 4, 2011

For the past year, Tri-City Christian Academy (TCA) has been in the process of seeking accreditation from the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). The process is drawing to a close now. February 15-18 a committee from ACSI visited the school to observe and to interview staff, students, board members, and parents.

ACSI is an organization for Christian schools that helps with the accreditation process and actually does the accrediting. It was founded in 1978 by the merging of several other Christian school associations. The offices are located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ACSI currently has a membership of over 5,000 Christian schools with a total enrollment of over 1.4 million students.

Accreditation enables schools to have an organization to which they are accountable. This ensures that each school will continue to improve instead of stagnating, digressing, or regressing. TCA is seeking accreditation to better serve its students. Their credits will be more readily accepted by colleges and educational institutions with accreditation.

At the end of the observation period, the accreditation committee gave a report to TCA's staff that had many good things to say, in addition to recommendations for continued improvement. The committee liked the Christ-centered atmosphere at the Academy and the connection between the school, church, and home. They also were pleased with the fine arts program and noted TCA's commitment to improvement. Finally, they observed that the passion of the faculty for the students was exceptional.

The committee will now send their report to the ACSI Regional Accreditation Commission for review. If accreditation is granted as the committee recommends, TCA will receive a final report with detailed recommendations for accountable improvements needed. TCA was blessed to hear the good report from the committee and is excited to continue to improve the educational quality of the Academy with help from ACSI.