The
Kentucky Core Content and the Kentucky Program of Studies have been aligned and
encompass the Kentucky Academic Expectations. Hardin County Schools have focused
our curriculum around these goals to ensure that the National Standards,
Kentucky Core Content for Assessment, and the Kentucky Program of Studies are
utilized as standards for curriculum.
Southern
Association
of Colleges and Schools Accreditation
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has as its
central purpose the improvement of education in the South through the process of
accreditation. Accreditation is a nongovernmental and voluntary process of evaluation
concerned with improving educational quality and assuring the public that member
institutes meet established standards.
As one of six regional associations in the United States,
the Southern Association, founded in 1895, accredits colleges and schools in 11 Southern
states - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia - and in Mexico, Central and South America,
and the islands of the Caribbean. Currently the membership includes more than 12,000
public and private institutions enrolling more than 11 million students in universities,
senior colleges, two-year colleges, high schools, junior high schools, middle schools,
elementary schools, and early childhood centers and kindergartens.
The Accreditation Process
Accreditation is a process for institutional improvement
through a systematic program of evaluation and the application of educational standards or
criteria. Accreditation means not only that an institute meets prescribed minimum
standards, but also that the institution demonstrates a commitment to providing quality
educational programs.
Regional accreditation is comprehensive: it evaluates the
entire institution, not just certain programs. Member colleges and schools undertake
exhaustive self-studies involving the participation of faculty, administrators, staff,
students, and governing board members. A committee of peer evaluators, comprised of
professional educators who have volunteered to serve on the committee, visits an
institution to assess its compliance with stated standards, to review the acceptability of
self-study, and to make recommendations based on the committee's evaluation. Institutional
personnel respond to recommendations stated in the visiting committee report and design
short-term and long-range plans for improvement based on the recommendations.
Accreditation is not a permanent status. Membership in the
Southern Association depends on continuing improvement demonstrated through a regular
cycle of annual reports, interim reviews, and periodic evaluations.
The following Hardin County Schools are fully accredited: