Accreditation of higher education in the United States has become an important part of the thinking of the educational profession and the general public. Many institutions belong to various accrediting agencies, but some institutions have chosen not to be accredited. A portion of these non-accredited institutions believe that accreditation will change their mission and their character. This opinion has existed at some fundamentalist institutions, yet other fundamentalist institutions have sought and won accreditation. The problem of this study was to determine whether or not accredited fundamentalist institutions have a mission and character that differs from non-accredited fundamentalist institutions. / The literature on accreditation has increased during the last few years. Studies of regional, state, and federal activities in accreditation have begun to clarify the picture for the educational profession. The regional groups continue to improve their methods of evaluation of institutional performance, but the role of state and federal accreditation could undergo great change in the future. / To study the relationship of accredited and non-accredited fundamentalist institutions, the first Seven Standards of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools served as a basis for a questionnaire. The population for the study was 110 fundamentalist institutions of which 86 institutions responded, a 78 percent response. Case studies were made of six institutions. / (1) The data reveal a variety among fundamentalist institutions in size, age, and physical characteristics, but these differences are not related to their accreditation. (2) There is a strong agreement between the founding mission and the present mission of fundamentalist institutions. (3) There is some difference among fundamentalist institutions in rules of student conduct, but the basic character of the institutions remains strongly Christian. (4) Some accredited institutions have been able to improve institutional programs and services sooner than anticipated because of the accreditation process, but these changes were already planned and did not affect the basic mission or character of the institution. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-06, Section: A, page: 1458. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75591 |
| Contributors | GRUBBS, WALTER DAVID., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 210 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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