5 things you need to know about criminal justice school accreditation

When deciding which criminal justice program to attend, the accreditation issue is very important. There are certain things that you should know about accreditation.

What is accreditation?

Accreditation means that a school and its programs have been peer reviewed through site visits by bodies recognized and authorized by the US Department of Education to do so. It, therefore, ultimately means that degrees obtained from accredited schools are recognized across the nation and are accepted as valid by employers.

Who are the recognized accreditation bodies?

The US Department of Education funds eight accreditation bodies. There are six regional accreditation (RA) bodies and two spin-offs of two of the six RA bodies.
These bodies are authorized to grant accreditations to schools falling within their specified regional jurisdictions.

These bodies are:

• the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont);

• the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia);

• the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Panama);

• the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming);

• the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (California, Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the Pacific Basin, and East Asia); and,

• the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington).

The two spin-offs are:

• the Western Association's Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities (see WICHE Best Practices), and,

• the North Central's Higher Learning Commission (see NCA Best Practices).

If your school is accredited by one of these eight (8) groups, which receive U.S. Dept. of Education funding and operate primarily by site visit-peer review, then you need not worry -- your school has the best accreditation there is.

Are there other accreditation bodies?

There are other accreditation bodies and many online schools proudly advertise that they are accredited by one or the other of these bodies. But these so-called accrediting bodies are themselves not accredited so that their accreditations are not worth the paper they are written on.

Out of all these other accrediting bodies there are some that are simply blacklisted and not recognized while there are others that may be accepted as valid in 30 per cent of the organizations that matter. Employers, on the other hand, are likely to reject outright degrees given by schools accredited by these other agencies.

Is there a list of blacklisted schools or a list of schools whose degrees are not recognized?

Yes, at present there are two such lists. One list has been prepared by the state of Michigan and another prepared by the state of Oregon. Employers use these lists to check whether a particular degree from a particular school is worthless or not.

Is accreditation a really important issue?

Yes! It is the most important issue when you are deciding which criminal justice school you should enroll in. If the school you enroll in is not accredited, then the degree that you earn after spending a lot of money and effort will not be worth the paper it is written on. You will be a sucker of the worst kind!

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Court Reporting Schools

Court Reporting Schools

Some have other professional training as well. To become qualified, you need to attend for twelve to twenty-four months. You can access lists of recommended schools online.

You will be developing and perfecting your skills on the job. Do you know what degree path is best for you. Find out how long the education will last for you. You want to be sure of full proficiency at the end of training. Decide which training and certification will work for you.

Courtroom records must be perfectly and completely recorded. There is a frequent need to return to and go over testimony at a later time. A related function is providing captions for television newscasts. In this way, you allow the partially or profoundly deaf individual to follow the procedure and understand what it happening during a case.

An increased need for court reporters is anticipated. The jobs are supposed to increase by 25% withing the next ten years. Although law doesn't require it, minimum standards are set in place for courtroom reporting by the Council on Approved Student Education (CASE) of the National Court Reporters. Survey what schools are approved by this organization.

When NCRA approves a school it is reassurance that it will provide good quality education. Study during the day, take evening classes or study on the Internet. There is never a worry about being unemployed in this profession. There is an urgent need to fill jobs.

You can earn ,000 and up to ,000 in your first year of employment. This is an attractive job prospect. You will be assured of permanent employment and help people at the same time. The hearing impaired will gain access to information because of captioning you may do. Opportunities are available for people of all ages.

Finish school in two years or less. You will be learning how to use the stenotype machine. It resembles a word processing keyboard but has fewer keys. The top row is a long number bar and under that is are the consonant keys. Below those are the vowel keys. Only A, O, E and U are shown. This stenotype machine is what you use to record the entire trial and all sidebars in the courtroom. There are a number of court reporting schools, but there are also a high number of jobs you can get after you finish.

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Accredited Paralegal Schools – Get Accredited Paralegal Certificates and Degrees

Accredited paralegal schools usually consist of programs concerning job trainings for aspiring paralegals, government agencies, corporations, law firms, and legal offices. Accredited paralegal schools will always play a very important role in developing future successful paralegals or legal assistants.

Despite the shifting roles of the jobs, employers would prefer to hire paralegals that come from accredited paralegal schools, because employers believe that in hiring paralegals that come from accredited paralegal schools will have formal training and higher education when it comes in paralegal studies.

Most of the accredited paralegal schools offer programs with accreditation and quality, which can be the ticket of chances to be hired for paralegal work by a prominent government agency or law office. In becoming a legal assistant, it is not enough to just enroll in an equally obscure institution or college.

The most important thing is the assurance of the programs offered by these accredited paralegal schools. Nowadays, with the trend of being a graduate from accredited paralegal schools, applying for a paralegal work would be very tough.

Most of the companies that hire positions for paralegal work would prefer those who have the general educational standards. Basically, there are different types of accreditation provided to paralegal schools.

The first type is the regional accreditation where a regional accrediting body gives the accreditation to paralegal programs of the accredited paralegal schools. This regional accrediting body will undergo a recognition process from the federal government before it can practice accreditation powers.

The second type is the ABA or American Bar Association, which has strict guidelines to be followed by paralegal schools before getting accreditation. The guidelines provided by ABA contain important information for the programs to be evaluated whereas paralegal schools are required to comply.

In searching for the best accredited paralegal schools, you can start from the department of education in your country that has the list of recognized and accredited paralegal schools.

In this way, it would be much easier to inquire on the offered certificate and degree programs of the paralegal schools.