An Investigation of Supportive Functions of School Accreditation for School Improvement in the United States

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The purpose of this study is to investigate the latest trends of the regional associations for school accreditation in the United States. In U.S.A., six school accreditation associations have established and developed since the end of the 19th century. School accreditation originally began to assure the quality of upper-secondary schools, but recently the number of elementary and lower-secondary schools which are asking for accreditation has been increasing. This study examined the historical background of the change of activities of the school accreditation associations, especially focusing on emphasizing school improvement. It was found that school accreditation process has some features as school evaluation to promote school improvement.