WASC
Seoul Foreign is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), which is one of six regional associations that accredit public and private schools, colleges, and universities in the United States. The Western region covers institutions in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the Pacific Basin, and East Asia, and areas of the Pacific and East Asia where American/International schools or colleges may apply to it for service.
Accreditation is a critical component for any school, international or otherwise. Accreditation is a voluntary dual-purpose process that schools (1) must be worthy of the trust placed in them to provide high-quality learning opportunities and (2) clearly demonstrate continual self-improvement. Specifically, WASC accreditation is important for the following reasons:
- Certification to the public that the school is a trustworthy institution of learning
- Validates the integrity of a school’s program and student transcripts
- Fosters improvement of the school’s programs and operations to support student learning
- Assures a school community that the school’s purposes are appropriate and being accomplished through a viable educational program
- A way to manage change through regular assessment, planning, implementing, monitoring and reassessment
- Assists a school/district in establishing its priority areas for improvement as a result of the perpetual accreditation cycle that includes
- School self-assessment of the current educational program for students
- Insight and perspective from the visiting committee
- Regular school staff assessment of progress through the intervening years between full self-studies.
SFS is currently accredited by WASC through 2010. For more information on WASC, please visit their official website: http://www.acswasc.org/
