Accreditation

The mission of WCEA is to promote quality Catholic education for students in our member elementary and secondary schools through an accrediting process that assures the primacy of faith formation and educational excellence.

The specific purpose of WCEA is to coordinate the accreditation process by assisting schools in their self-evaluative programs, to establish general standards for excellence in Catholic schools, to grant WCEA Accreditation, and to cooperate formally with regional accrediting organizations as determined by the WCEA Board of Directors. Currently WCEA co-accredits schools with ACS-WASC and AdvancED.

WCEA was originally formed in California under the auspices of the Bishops of the Catholic Arch/Dioceses of California. Although the membership now includes Catholic Arch/Dioceses in nine other states and Guam, the Bishops of the Catholic Arch/Dioceses of California retain reserved powers as the Members of the Corporation and appoint one of their member Bishops to serve as the WCEA President.