Online High

How do you choose an online high school? There are many key factors in the decision-making process and over the next couple of weeks, I will be looking at some of them. Here is the first:

Part 1: Determine who says that it is a legitimate online high school. There are many fakes on the Internet. An online high school should:

a. Be accredited by either one of the accreditors listed here or here.

b. Be recognized by your state’s department of education.

c. Be recognized by a school district.

Often there is some cross-over between the three of these and that is perfectly acceptable.

So what do you do if your school of interest has none of those three? I would strongly recommend a posting in our forum here as one way to determine if it is a “real” school.

In the second post of this series, let’s take a look at credibility. Here we go.

Question: What makes one online high school credible and another one not?

Answer: There are many things that make an online high school credible. Being accredited is one possibility, but that is not the sole one. A school’s public presence can make or break it. Look at the website. Does it look like an 8-year-old created it? This is not a good sign.

Another possibility is the lack of written materials. In some way, a school should be able to send you something, perhaps a brochure, on paper. Yes, through email is absolutely fine. A school that has nothing written down is a real concern.

What I am suggesting is that your potential school should act in a professional manner. If it is less than that, you may want to look around for other choices.

Best Online High Schools

This is the first in a series of posts about what you should look for in a school if you decide to earn your high school diploma online.

The question
Does the school need to be accredited?

The answer
The old answer was yes, 100%, yes. The new answer is that it depends. While accreditation is the marker for the best programs, there are programs that have been established by state departments of education or local school districts that may not yet be accredited, but are still recognized.

That being said, if a school claims to be accredited, but it is not on this list of accreditors or is on this list of schools, walk away. Yes, just as there are fake online high schools, there are also fake or unrecognized accreditors.

Fake accreditors are actually easier to deal with. Avoid at all cost. There are, however, a few unrecognized accreditors that have the best of intentions, but their accreditation means little in the world of online high schools and in college admissions.

What should you do if you are not sure whether it is a real accredited school? Ask a question about it in the forum. I am happy to discuss it with you there.