The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) is the U.S. regional accreditation association providing educational accreditation for all levels of education, from pre-kindergarten to the doctoral level, in the six-state New England region. It also provides accreditation for some international schools, particularly at the elementary and secondary levels. Founded in 1885, it is the oldest of the regional accreditors in the United States.
NEASC serves more than 2000 public and independent schools, colleges and universities in the six New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. As of 2011, the NEASC counted 253 degree-granting colleges, universities, and other post-secondary institutions, and 86 vocational-technical schools in its membership. The association's Commission on Public Secondary Schools had 650 member schools in the six-state New England region, including 641 accredited schools and nine candidates for accreditation. The Commission on Independent Schools had 615 members in New England and Canada, including 577 accredited schools and 38 candidate schools. Membership also included about 106 accredited public elementary and middle schools in New England and 175 accredited American/International schools in 68 nations around the world.
The NEASC is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts.
Famous quotes containing the words england, association, schools and/or colleges:
“Let not England forget her precedence of teaching nations how to live.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“In this great association we know no North, no South, no East, no West. This has been our pride for all these years. We have no political party. We never have inquired what anybody’s religion is. All we ever have asked is simply, “Do you believe in perfect equality for women?” This is the one article in our creed.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment. The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools be made by the people the center of the day’s demonstration. Let the national flag float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“The fetish of the great university, of expensive colleges for young women, is too often simply a fetish. It is not based on a genuine desire for learning. Education today need not be sought at any great distance. It is largely compounded of two things, of a certain snobbishness on the part of parents, and of escape from home on the part of youth. And to those who must earn quickly it is often sheer waste of time. Very few colleges prepare their students for any special work.”
—Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958)