Accreditation and Credit Requirements

Planning checklist: confirm the operating state and school classification before advertising accredited status or issuing an official diploma.

Authorization

• Identify the state, local authority, and online or private-school rules.
• Confirm attendance, instructional-hour, reporting, and filing requirements.
• Determine whether the school is private, online private, charter, microschool, or another model.

Accreditation Readiness

• Select an appropriate K–12 accreditor.
• Prepare governance, staffing, student-protection, accessibility, privacy, and continuous-improvement policies.
• Maintain curriculum maps, syllabi, assessments, rubrics, records, and self-study evidence.

Credit Model

• Define what one credit or course unit means.
• Set evidence rules for time, mastery, projects, and assessments.
• Map high-school courses to required subject areas.
• Separate core, elective, and pathway credits.
• Publish grading, retake, incomplete, transfer, and transcript policies.

Early Graduation Safeguards

1. Create an individual graduation plan.
2. Verify required courses, credits, assessments, pathway competencies, and capstone work.
3. Require mastery evidence rather than lesson completion alone.
4. Audit the transcript before approval.
5. Obtain required family and administrator approvals.
6. Issue a diploma only after all applicable requirements are satisfied.

Status: This is a planning framework. Final requirements depend on the school’s operating jurisdiction and approved policies.