In the light of the profound structural changes that the domestic education system has been experiencing recently , school accreditation is called upon to become a tool with which the state will control how fully its reforms meet the general needs of society.
According to Russian law, high school accreditation is a mandatory, regularly conducted procedure, the main purpose of which is to confirm that the quality of the educational process in this educational institution fully complies with the requirements of the state standard. In recent years, the authorities have begun to pay special attention to this process, since there is a gradual transition to third-generation standards, which place high demands on the main educational link — schools.
School accreditation is a regular procedure. In accordance with the Law on Education, it should be carried out at least once every six years. In this case, the application must be submitted by the educational institution in the manner prescribed by law. After that, the relevant department makes a decision on accreditation, while the time interval between this decision and the procedure itself cannot exceed one hundred and five days.
Accreditation of the school, the documents for which must be sent by the educational institution along with the application, includes several stages. The first one is in absentia, when the commission examines documents sent by the school, which must confirm that the institution works strictly according to state standards, has all the necessary licenses for educational activities. If errors are found in some documents, the school administration will have seven days to fix it.
The most important stage of accreditation is the personal acquaintance of the commission members with the educational institution. In this case, special attention is paid to the state of the material base of the school, to the main indicators of the quality of the educational process, to the professionalism of teachers and other employees. In addition, an accreditation examination of all educational programs used in this school must be carried out , as well as the main indicators of the educational institution. The latter is important for those schools that set themselves the goal of obtaining the status of a gymnasium or lyceum.
One of the most intriguing stages, without which no accreditation of the school is complete, is a test of students' knowledge in basic subjects. In this case, the figures obtained should reflect the quality of training of students and graduates, which are expressed in average scores for the main subjects studied.
Based on the results of all inspections, the accreditation commission makes a decision on the compliance of the educational process in this school with the main provisions of the state standard and the Law on Education. Renewal of accreditation materials usually takes forty-five days, after which the administration of this educational institution can work quietly for the next five years.