The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is one of six official academic bodies responsible for the accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in the United States and foreign institutions of American origin. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges has jurisdiction over the U.S. states of California and Hawaii, its territories of Guam, American Samoa and Northern Marianas Islands, in addition to the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, the Pacific Rim, East Asia, and areas of the Pacific and East Asia where American schools or colleges may apply to it for service.
Western Association of Schools and Colleges is divided into three groups. The Accrediting Commission for Schools accredits all schools below the college level. Included are elementary, junior high, middle, high and adult schools, whether public, private, or church-related. The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges evaluates and accredits public and private post-secondary institutions that offer two-year education programs and award the associate degree. The Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities accredits public and private senior colleges and universities.
Famous quotes containing the words western, association, schools and/or colleges:
“O western orb sailing the heaven,
Now I know what you must have meant as a month since I walked,
As I walked in silence the transparent shadowy night,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“A good marriage ... is a sweet association in life: full of constancy, trust, and an infinite number of useful and solid services and mutual obligations.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Absolute catholicity of taste is not without its dangers. It is only an auctioneer who should admire all schools of art.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“If the factory people outside the colleges live under the discipline of narrow means, the people inside live under almost every other kind of discipline except that of narrow means—from the fruity austerities of learning, through the iron rations of English gentlemanhood, down to the modest disadvantages of occupying cold stone buildings without central heating and having to cross two or three quadrangles to take a bath.”
—Margaret Halsey (b. 1910)