Discusses the history of the North Central Association, focusing on how the "North Central" region earned its name and achieved its present size and shape, including Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico. Offers quotes about membership criteria from speakers at association meetings in the early 1900s. (MAB)

Describes five major criteria, set by the North Central Association Commission on Schools (NCA), that must be present in order for a school to maintain accreditation. Reviews three endorsements provided by the NCA--school improvement, outcomes, and transitions--that attempt to help schools engage in a continuous improvement program. (JDI)

Reports on a variety of assessment and professional in-service programs being implemented at six K-12 schools in the states of Oklahoma, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Arizona. Describes key program features as well as the processes of program development. (JDI)

Proposes an alternative structure for the accreditation visiting teams of the North Central Association, advocating the organization of teams into five smaller, interdisciplinary units. Describes suggested team activities, benefits for faculty serving on interdisciplinary teams, and suggestions for schools interested in implementing the team…

Describes the status of the North Central Association's Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. Reviews the mission and culture of the Commission and characteristics of institutional membership. Assesses the impact of September 1994 revisions of criteria and general institutional requirements and summarizes accrediting activities for 1994.…

Describes an outcomes accreditation study of 27 schools, undertaken after the 1985 North Central Association Commission on Schools' (NCA COS) two-year development pilot project on the same subject. Predicts that NCA COS will keep governance of the outcomes process at the local level, with peer review by visiting teams remaining an integral part of…

Presents findings from activities undertaken by the North Central Association to determine strategic planning needs for 1995-2000, including a survey of 213 member schools and an environmental scan. Indicates that 91% of the members expressed the importance of keeping schools informed about standards. Lists eight critical elements discovered in…

Finds the American system of voluntary accreditation unique worldwide. Traces the development of K-12 and higher education in the United States and efforts since 1870 toward educational standardization. Describes 1873-1909 as a period of confusion and disagreement. Explores the roots of accreditation, the role of accrediting agencies, secondary…

Examines the history of the North Central Association's Commission on Schools, highlighting seven common misconceptions and citing the historical record to correct them. Discusses the commission's origins, accreditation achievements, accreditation methodologies, relationship to government agencies, dues, and staff size. (MAB)

Discusses the founding and demise of the North Central Association's Commission on Unit Courses and Curricula (CUCC), which was designed to help develop and standardize curricula. Indicates that the accrediting bodies for secondary schools and higher education handle their own public relations without the coordination provided by CUCC. (Contains…

Reports America's concern with the quality of today's schools. Discusses the three aspects of quality assurance: accountability to the government (stewardship), community (responsiveness), and profession (professionalism). Argues that all are needed to balance the needs for school quality. Describes two challenges for regional accreditation. (AJL)

Describes the development of the North Central Association, from the early reactive measures to the more proactive efforts of the Commission on Schools, such as the implementation of outcomes accreditation (OA) in 1985. Argues that, with OA, changes in instruction, curricula, or organization are necessarily related to student performance and…

Presents fictitious first-person accounts detailing three forms of accreditation used by the North Central Association (NCA): one-time examinations, evaluations, and Outcomes Accreditation. Indicates that, after its first 60 years, the NCA replaced examination with self-study and peer review evaluations, which in turn were replaced by Outcomes…

Examines the future of the educational community, suggesting that there is an emerging "Knowledge Society" in which knowledge workers give the society its character, leadership, and social profile. Discusses the implications of such a social model for the North Central Association, an accreditation association. Provides summaries of the…

Describes the planning and implementation of outcomes accreditation at Maine West High School, in Des Plaines, Illinois, from its beginnings in 1988-89 to the present. Indicates that the school discovered that changes in student achievement follow changes in teacher behaviors and that increases in student learning are based on instructional…