National Accreditation for EWU in the High School

The EWU in the High School Program at Eastern Washington University is one of 19 college and university programs nationwide to be granted first-time accreditation from the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP). There are just over 100 accredited concurrent enrollment programs in 22 states across the country.

Concurrent enrollment allows colleges and universities to offer courses in high schools so students (sophomore-senior) can be enrolled in college courses and earn college credit, all within the familiarity of their high school classroom. The curriculum is taught by teachers who are approved by university departments and considered the equivalent of adjunct faculty.

“Achieving NACEP accreditation for our program is a tremendous honor,” said Melinda Bowman, EWU in the High School director. “As a nationally accredited program in the state of Washington, Eastern has a tremendous opportunity to help high school students explore their educational goals, achieve academic success and have access to postsecondary education.”

As the only national set of quality standards applicable to concurrent enrollment partnerships, NACEP’s standards serve as the model criteria for ensuring that the course content and expectations for student work in concurrent enrollment match those on the campus of the sponsoring college or university.

“NACEP accreditation is the hallmark of excellence, and I am very pleased to recognize the EWU in the High School Program as one of a select group of enrollment partnerships nationwide accredited through an extensive peer-review process,” said Victoria Zeppelin, chair of the 2017-18 NACEP’s Accreditation Commission. “Eastern has demonstrated to its peers that the college courses it offers in high schools are of the same high quality as rigorous college courses offered on campus.”

To earn accreditation from NACEP, concurrent enrollment programs conduct a self-study, document how their programs adhere to NACEP’s 17 standards, and undergo a rigorous peer-review process conducted by a team of representatives from NACEP-accredited programs as well as the NACEP Accreditation Commission. NACEP’s accreditation is valid for seven years, during which time programs are expected to uphold NACEP’s standards and report annually on program practices.

The National Student Clearinghouse reports that 25 percent of the 2 million Associate and Bachelor’s degree earners in 2014-15 took at least one dual or concurrent enrollment course while in high school.

The full listing of programs nationwide currently accredited by NACEP can be found at: http://nacep.org/docs/accreditation/NACEPAccreditedPrograms.pdf

EWU in the High School currently serves approximately 4,000 students across the state of Washington.