Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Encyclopedia
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association dedicated to educational excellence and improvement through peer evaluation and accreditation
. It is one of six regional accrediting organizations
for higher education
institutions recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation
and the United States Department of Education
. The Middle States Association is responsible for accrediting educational institutions in New York
, New Jersey
, Pennsylvania
, Delaware
, Maryland
, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico
, and the US Virgin Islands. The Middle States Association also works with schools in the Near East
, Far East
, Africa
, and Europe
, and thus far with one school in Canada
, and another in Chile
.
The Middle States Association should not be confused with the "Middle States Accrediting Board" (abbreviated MSAB) http://www.cpec.ca.gov/CollegeGuide/NonAccredited.asp, an unrecognized accreditation agency that some diploma mill
s cite to legitimize their operations.
The Middle States Association is made up of three accrediting Commissions; the Commission on Elementary Schools, the Commission on Secondary Schools, and the Commission on Higher Education. Additionally, the Committee on Institution-Wide Accreditation serves as a bridging committee for educational institutions with grade levels covered by both the Commission on Elementary Schools and the Commission on Secondary Schools.
MSCES (and its predecessor, the Assembly of Elementary Schools) has provided accreditation protocols to schools since 1978. These protocols rely on the concepts of peer evaluation and self-regulation to provide continuous school improvement.
MSCES moved its operations back to Philadelphia's University City Science Center in Fall 2009 and now works in common space along side its sister Commissions and the Middle States Association Business Office.
offer non-degree
-granting post-secondary programs, in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. In addition, it accredits schools in the Caribbean as well as various locations around the world.
The Commission on Secondary Schools (CSS) was established in November 1920 to promote the improvement of secondary education and to secure better coordination and understanding between secondary schools and institutions of higher education. It serves public and non-public middle, intermediate, and/or secondary schools, non-degree granting vocational technical and postsecondary institutions, special purpose schools, supplementary education centers, and distance education institutions. These institutions may be ungraded or have designated grade levels, including a post-graduate level.
A permanent staff housed primarily in the Middle States offices in Philadelphia, PA, coordinates the work of the Commission and its volunteers.
In February 2007 the CSS approved a new set of accreditation protocols to be used for accreditation decisions beginning in October 2008.
-granting colleges and universities in the Middle States region. It examines the institution as a whole, rather than specific programs within the institution.
According to the MSCHE, the accreditation process includes "assessment, peer evaluation, consultation, information gathering and sharing, cooperation, and appropriate educational activities."
Every three months the Commission publishes a list of actions on higher education. Included are decisions to warn, revoke or affirm accreditation.
Although its focus is the Middle States region, in 2005 the Commission on Higher Education accredited the Athabasca University
in Alberta
, Canada
and The Open University in Milton Keynes
, United Kingdom
. Including, in 2010, the Universidad Mayor
in Santiago
, Chile
.
During the early years, many of the education luminaries of the day contributed to the formation of the Association. A few of the early leaders included President E.H. Magill of Swarthmore College
, President Nicholas M. Butler
of Columbia University
, President Charles Adams of Cornell
, Headmaster Thomas Sidwell of the Sidwell Friends School
, Headmaster James McKenzie of Lawrenceville School
, Provost William Pepper
of the University of Pennsylvania
, and President Woodrow Wilson
of Princeton University
.
The initial objectives of the Association were to standardize the qualifications required for admission to college, to determine the desired characteristics for college preparatory schools, to recommend courses of study for both colleges and schools, to foster school and college relationships to each other and to the government, and to study and recommend best practices of organization and governance.
During the early years, the Association’s discussions on the standardization of academic credentials led to the creation of the College Board and the Carnegie Unit as ways to assure quality of academic offerings and the trustworthiness of the participating institutions. Educational accreditation, the current mission of the Association, was introduced in 1919 and 1921 with the formation of the Commission on Higher Education (CHE) and Commission on Secondary Schools (CSS). The Commissions established the concept of peer evaluation in the Region and contributed to the evolving collegiality between the two levels of education.
In the years that followed, accreditation in the Middle States region and around the country defined the characteristics of quality in American secondary and higher education. The Middle States Association concentrated its efforts on accreditation activities. The original objectives of the Association that concentrated on the critique of American education shifted to national organizations of educational specialists. The Commission on Higher Education was located at Columbia University and the Commission on Secondary Schools at the University of Pennsylvania. The two Commissions created standards and protocols to accredit their institutions.
Initially, only four-year colleges and universities and traditional high schools were offered accreditation. Visits were short, conducted often by only one person and were often very prescriptive in nature. Information sought from the institutions was quantitative, and denial of accreditation was often based on a single issue. During these early decades, institutions accredited by CHE had little or no contact with the Commission. It was not until the mid-fifties that the ten-year cycle of accreditation was introduced, and the process became more qualitative. Institutions were expected to submit comprehensive self-studies, and the process became mission centered.
At this time, institutions were required to submit periodic review reports and host special Commission visitors. CHE offered a number of qualitative approaches for self-study, and CSS was an important partner in the creation of the Evaluative Criteria, published by NSSE. This document defined the American public high school. The two Commissions expanded the scope of their work to include community colleges, teacher education institutions, vocational technical schools, and special education schools.
In 1957, the Association obtained a Charter of its own from the Board of Regents of the State of New York. In 1975, the Association changed its name once more to accommodate the emerging interest in the accreditation of elementary schools: The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1976, the two Commissions relocated together to the University City Science Center in Philadelphia. In 1978, the Trustees of the Association unanimously voted to form a third accreditation unit, the Assembly of Elementary Schools, ten years later to become the Commission on Elementary Schools. (CES). The two school Commissions formed the bridge Committee on Institution Wide Accreditation (CIWA) to recommend accreditation action on institutions that serve schools that span the PK-12 continuum.
In 1992, the Trustees granted wide range autonomy to each of the three Commissions in areas of finance, policy, and personnel. At the same time, the Association was reincorporated in the State of Delaware and finally in 2002 in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In 1994, the Commission on Elementary Schools moved its operation from the condominium office to the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd to provide space to accommodate growth in the two remaining Commissions. During the 1990s and into the new Century, all three Commissions experienced growth in the region and around the world in both traditional and nontraditional delivery systems, including early age, distance education
, and a wide variety of emerging educational entities.
Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
. It is one of six regional accrediting organizations
Regional accreditation
Regional accreditation is a term used in the United States to refer to educational accreditation conducted by any of several accreditation bodies established to serve six defined geographic areas of the country for accreditation of schools, colleges, and universities...
for higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
institutions recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation
Council for Higher Education Accreditation
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation is a United States organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for self-regulation of academic quality through accreditation in order to certify the quality of higher education...
and the United States Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
. The Middle States Association is responsible for accrediting educational institutions in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, and the US Virgin Islands. The Middle States Association also works with schools in the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
, Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and thus far with one school in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and another in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
.
The Middle States Association should not be confused with the "Middle States Accrediting Board" (abbreviated MSAB) http://www.cpec.ca.gov/CollegeGuide/NonAccredited.asp, an unrecognized accreditation agency that some diploma mill
Diploma mill
A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
s cite to legitimize their operations.
The Middle States Association is made up of three accrediting Commissions; the Commission on Elementary Schools, the Commission on Secondary Schools, and the Commission on Higher Education. Additionally, the Committee on Institution-Wide Accreditation serves as a bridging committee for educational institutions with grade levels covered by both the Commission on Elementary Schools and the Commission on Secondary Schools.
Commission on Elementary Schools
The Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools (MSCES) works with public and private schools that middle, elementary, and early age education in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. MSCES also works with schools in the Middle East, Near East, Far East, Africa, and Europe.MSCES (and its predecessor, the Assembly of Elementary Schools) has provided accreditation protocols to schools since 1978. These protocols rely on the concepts of peer evaluation and self-regulation to provide continuous school improvement.
MSCES moved its operations back to Philadelphia's University City Science Center in Fall 2009 and now works in common space along side its sister Commissions and the Middle States Association Business Office.
Commission on Secondary Schools
The Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools (MSCSS) serves both public and non-public schools providing middle and/or secondary education, including vocational-technical schools thatoffer non-degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
-granting post-secondary programs, in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. In addition, it accredits schools in the Caribbean as well as various locations around the world.
The Commission on Secondary Schools (CSS) was established in November 1920 to promote the improvement of secondary education and to secure better coordination and understanding between secondary schools and institutions of higher education. It serves public and non-public middle, intermediate, and/or secondary schools, non-degree granting vocational technical and postsecondary institutions, special purpose schools, supplementary education centers, and distance education institutions. These institutions may be ungraded or have designated grade levels, including a post-graduate level.
A permanent staff housed primarily in the Middle States offices in Philadelphia, PA, coordinates the work of the Commission and its volunteers.
In February 2007 the CSS approved a new set of accreditation protocols to be used for accreditation decisions beginning in October 2008.
Commission on Higher Education
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) is the unit of the Middle States Association that accredits degreeAcademic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
-granting colleges and universities in the Middle States region. It examines the institution as a whole, rather than specific programs within the institution.
According to the MSCHE, the accreditation process includes "assessment, peer evaluation, consultation, information gathering and sharing, cooperation, and appropriate educational activities."
Every three months the Commission publishes a list of actions on higher education. Included are decisions to warn, revoke or affirm accreditation.
Although its focus is the Middle States region, in 2005 the Commission on Higher Education accredited the Athabasca University
Athabasca University
Athabasca University is a Canadian university in Athabasca, Alberta. It is an accredited research institution which also offers distance education courses and programs. Courses are offered primarily in English with some French offerings. Each year, 32,000 students attend the university. It offers...
in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and The Open University in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Including, in 2010, the Universidad Mayor
Universidad Mayor
Universidad Mayor is a Chilean private university. Its main campus is in Santiago, with a secondary campus in Temuco.-History of Universidad Mayor :The University was founded in Santiago, in 1988...
in Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
.
History
The genesis of the Association can be traced to a meeting of activist college presidents in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in February 1887. The meeting was held to protest a proposed tax on college properties and concluded with the consensus that education from early age through the university was in chaos. The presidents chartered themselves as the College Association of Pennsylvania, soon thereafter renamed the Association of the Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Middle States and Maryland.During the early years, many of the education luminaries of the day contributed to the formation of the Association. A few of the early leaders included President E.H. Magill of Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, President Nicholas M. Butler
Nicholas M. Butler
Nicholas Murray Butler was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize...
of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, President Charles Adams of Cornell
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, Headmaster Thomas Sidwell of the Sidwell Friends School
Sidwell Friends School
Sidwell Friends School is a Quaker private school located in Bethesda, Maryland and Washington, D.C., offering pre-kindergarten through secondary school classes. Founded in 1883 by Thomas Sidwell, its motto is "Eluceat omnibus lux" , alluding to the Quaker concept of inner light...
, Headmaster James McKenzie of Lawrenceville School
Lawrenceville School
The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational, independent preparatory boarding school for grades 9–12 located on in the historic community of Lawrenceville, in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, U.S., five miles southwest of Princeton....
, Provost William Pepper
William Pepper
William Pepper, Jr., M.D. , an American physician, was a leader in medical education in the nineteenth century, and a longtime Provost of the University of Pennsylvania.-Early life:...
of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, and President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
of Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
.
The initial objectives of the Association were to standardize the qualifications required for admission to college, to determine the desired characteristics for college preparatory schools, to recommend courses of study for both colleges and schools, to foster school and college relationships to each other and to the government, and to study and recommend best practices of organization and governance.
During the early years, the Association’s discussions on the standardization of academic credentials led to the creation of the College Board and the Carnegie Unit as ways to assure quality of academic offerings and the trustworthiness of the participating institutions. Educational accreditation, the current mission of the Association, was introduced in 1919 and 1921 with the formation of the Commission on Higher Education (CHE) and Commission on Secondary Schools (CSS). The Commissions established the concept of peer evaluation in the Region and contributed to the evolving collegiality between the two levels of education.
In the years that followed, accreditation in the Middle States region and around the country defined the characteristics of quality in American secondary and higher education. The Middle States Association concentrated its efforts on accreditation activities. The original objectives of the Association that concentrated on the critique of American education shifted to national organizations of educational specialists. The Commission on Higher Education was located at Columbia University and the Commission on Secondary Schools at the University of Pennsylvania. The two Commissions created standards and protocols to accredit their institutions.
Initially, only four-year colleges and universities and traditional high schools were offered accreditation. Visits were short, conducted often by only one person and were often very prescriptive in nature. Information sought from the institutions was quantitative, and denial of accreditation was often based on a single issue. During these early decades, institutions accredited by CHE had little or no contact with the Commission. It was not until the mid-fifties that the ten-year cycle of accreditation was introduced, and the process became more qualitative. Institutions were expected to submit comprehensive self-studies, and the process became mission centered.
At this time, institutions were required to submit periodic review reports and host special Commission visitors. CHE offered a number of qualitative approaches for self-study, and CSS was an important partner in the creation of the Evaluative Criteria, published by NSSE. This document defined the American public high school. The two Commissions expanded the scope of their work to include community colleges, teacher education institutions, vocational technical schools, and special education schools.
In 1957, the Association obtained a Charter of its own from the Board of Regents of the State of New York. In 1975, the Association changed its name once more to accommodate the emerging interest in the accreditation of elementary schools: The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1976, the two Commissions relocated together to the University City Science Center in Philadelphia. In 1978, the Trustees of the Association unanimously voted to form a third accreditation unit, the Assembly of Elementary Schools, ten years later to become the Commission on Elementary Schools. (CES). The two school Commissions formed the bridge Committee on Institution Wide Accreditation (CIWA) to recommend accreditation action on institutions that serve schools that span the PK-12 continuum.
In 1992, the Trustees granted wide range autonomy to each of the three Commissions in areas of finance, policy, and personnel. At the same time, the Association was reincorporated in the State of Delaware and finally in 2002 in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In 1994, the Commission on Elementary Schools moved its operation from the condominium office to the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd to provide space to accommodate growth in the two remaining Commissions. During the 1990s and into the new Century, all three Commissions experienced growth in the region and around the world in both traditional and nontraditional delivery systems, including early age, distance education
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
, and a wide variety of emerging educational entities.
See also
- List of recognized accreditation associations of higher learning
- Educational accreditationEducational accreditationEducational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met...
- United States Department of EducationUnited States Department of EducationThe United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
External links
- Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
- Middle States Association Commission on Elementary Schools
- Middle States Association Commission on Secondary Schools
- Middle States Association Committee on Institution-Wide Accreditation
- Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education