ADMINISTRATIVE RULES OF MONTANA
ARM 10.55.605 Categories of Accreditation
There are five possible categories of accreditation for a Montana school seeking accreditation through ARM.
The first category of accreditation is regular accreditation. In this category the school has met assurance and student performance standards. A school shall be classified as regularly accredited by using the combined results of the assurance standards and student performance standards. A school must receive level one for all assurance standards and level one or two for student performance standards; or level one or two for all assurance standards and level one for student performance standards.
The second category is regular accreditation with minor deviants. In this category the school does not meet all the requirements of accreditation. combined results of the assurance standards and student performance standards with level two in any category in both sets of standards.
The third category of accreditation is accreditation with level two deviations in student performance standards, or regular accreditation with minor deviations at level two in either assurance or student performance standards. A school that is classified in this category must fix all deviations from assurance standards within three years or they will be assigned a lower category of accreditation.
The fourth category of accreditation is accreditation with advice meaning the school exhibits serious and/or numerous deviations from the standards.
The last category of accreditation, and lowest level of accreditation, is accreditation with deficiency. Accreditation with deficiency means that a school has been on advice status for two years and has not complied with the corrective plan and continues to have deviations. Advice status indicates that the school exhibits serious and/or numerous deviations from the standards. A school shall be classified as accredited with advice by using the combined results of the assurance standards and student performance standards, receiving a level three in any category. A district or a school that is in advice or deficiency status must create a corrective plan, systematic procedure and a timeline for resolving the deviations. A school will be immediately accredited with deficiency if the school hires a teacher who does not have a teaching license or the school has a facility that creates an environment that is unhealthy with safety and/or health hazards. If a school with deficiency status fails to comply with the required corrective plan they will be placed into the intensive assistance process. Schools will receive non accredited statues if they fail to meet the requirements of intensive assistance and therefore does not comply with the Board of Public Education's standards for accreditation.