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Archive / News / 2010-02-19

FDEP Diploma and GED Acceptance

FDEP acceptance of diplomas by their operator certification program is mainly contingent upon whether or not a school is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting body. Public high schools in state are usually accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools (SACS) and are overseen by the Florida Department of Education. The General Education Development (GED) is solely developed and maintained by one organization. That organization is the American Council on Education (ACE). ACE oversees the GED program for all 50 states. Each state receives its delegated authority from ACE to administer the GED program locally. ACE does not permit any GED to be taken online. All examinations are scheduled, proctored examinations with the need to provide positive identification.

Many of the online high school programs have little to no oversight and are not accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting body. Just because an online school claims to be accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting organization, it’s not always true. The consumer is ultimately responsible for doing his or her research by looking further into each claim made by these schools.

The following websites contain good lists of nationally recognized accrediting organizations. There are quite a few of them out there.

The first organization for you to check out is the Council on Higher Education and Accreditation (CHEA). CHEA is more like a clearing house for all nationally recognized accrediting organizations. You can find them at http://www.chea.org/. They also have some good articles on their website about diploma mills. But for more specific information, check out detailed list of accrediting organizations.pdf for a detailed list of accrediting organizations.

Also, you may look at accrediting organizations recognized by the at US Department of Education (USDE). This website also has a searchable database. However, you may not see some high schools in this database because it is primarily for Post Secondary education (college).

The Florida Department of Education also has a list of accrediting organizations for private or faith based schools. Please visit http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org/Information/Private_Schools/accreditation.asp for this list.

The Commission on International Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA) is also a good reference to use when searching for accreditation. You can find their web site at http://www.citaschools.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 CITA also falls under the parent corporation of AdvancED which also oversees NCA CASI and SACS CASI. Check them out at http://www.advanc-ed.org/schools_districts/

For diplomas that are received from outside of the US, FDEP refers those to a nationally recognized translation and evaluation company named , Josef Silney & Associates Inc.. They will evaluate the educational level of the diploma received and provide the applicant with a documented evaluation. If an out of country diploma is evaluated by Josef Silney, and determined to equivalent to a US high school diploma, FDEP will accept it.

This information was provided by:

Ron McCulley
Program Administrator
Operator Certification Program
8509245-8384