School Accreditation in the Diocese of Stockton

Who accredits our schools?

All schools in the Diocese of Stockton are accredited by both the Western Catholic Educational Association (WCEA) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

The WCEA (http://www.westwcea.org) is a private educational accrediting agency established under the auspices of the Bishops of the Catholic (Arch) Dioceses of California. The mission of WCEA is to maintain and improve the quality of elementary and secondary Catholic schools as educational environments that assist students in their faith formation and academic needs. The major purpose of the WCEA is to coordinate the accreditation process by assisting schools in their self-evaluative programs, to establish general standards for excellence, to grant WCEA accreditation, and to cooperate formally with regional accrediting organizations as determined by the WCEA Board of Directors.

The WASC (http://www.acswasc.org/) is one of six regional non-governmental groups that the United States Office of Education recognizes as an accrediting agency. The primary focus of WASC is the accreditation of public and private high schools in California and Hawai’i. The University of California system requires that schools must be accredited by WASC in order to qualify for UC approval of courses.

WCEA formally cooperates with WASC in the joint accrediting of Catholic schools.

What does Accreditation do for a school?

Accreditation identifies a school as having its own unique and appropriate purposes and goals, as achieving them substantially, and as having the human, fiscal and physical resources to continue to achieve those purposes and goals for a reasonable period of time. WCEA Accreditation further requires that schools have a clearly defined Catholic identity as evidenced in their mission statement, philosophy, community involvement, focus and direction.

Accreditation provides a form of recognition by an external agency, which assures a school and its shareholders that they are associated with an educational community committed to quality and on-going school improvement based on self-assessment and planning.

To qualify for accreditation, a school must provide evidence of adequately meeting the criteria and must provide evidence of an ongoing process for improving its educational program. A school is accredited only after an outside visiting team has validated the school’s self-study during a three-day visit.

All eleven parish elementary schools and both diocesan high schools are accredited by WCEA and by WASC. During the 2007-08 school year, St. Anthony in Manteca, St. Stanislaus in Modesto, and Presentation in Stockton will have their six-year visit to renew their accreditation.

Last Update October 23, 2007