Online High School Standards

Standard 1: Is the school accredited by a recognized accreditor? Many fake schools claim to be accredited, but this is often by a fake accreditor. To be sure of your choice, the school should be accredited by someone listed here, here, or here.

Standard 2: Is it possible to tell who owns or operates the school? Online high schools are operated by either government agencies or are commercial ventures. Both are reasonable choices. In either case, it should be readily apparent who the operator of the school might be.

Standard 3: Does the site have significant contact information? At the very least, a school website should have a physical address, a telephone number, an email address, and a contact name.

Standard 4: Does the school charge a reasonable fee? Schools can be expensive to operate. Any school that asserts you can earn a high school diploma for $295 is fake. The typical amount for an accredited, quality school should be north of $1000 and, for four years of learning, it could certainly be in the $1000s. The costs vary widely. The one exception are the free online high schools that are offered by school districts are state departments of education (or something similar).

Standard 5: Does the school require a reasonable number of courses over a reasonable period of time? Beware the school that wants to give you "high school diploma in only seven days." While it is not possible to determine how long it should take you to complete a program (unless you are taking the entire high school diploma course), the general amount of time should be measured in months or, likely, years.

Standard 6: Does the curriculum appear to be similar to traditional schools? While it is certainly acceptable to have some less-traditional courses, the goal of an online high school should be to meet admittance requirements for colleges (regardless of whether that is your goal).

Standard 7: Has the school been in operation for a reasonable length of time? "Reasonable" can be difficult to determine because online learning is still in its infancy. That being said, unless it is affiliated with a school district, you do not want to be the first student. Let them work out the kinks with a few students first.

Standard 8: Does the school's website make believable claims? Look at what the school claims in terms of length and cost of program, in terms of accreditation, and in terms of utility of the diploma.

Standard 9: Does the school's website have a professional appearance? While this is subjective, I encourage you to take a look at the website of The American Academy or Laurel Springs School. It should be in that ballpark.

Standard 10: Is it listed in one of the standard references such as Complete Guide to Online High Schools or at Best Online High Schools? The website is the largest independent source of online high schools on the Internet.