District high schools undergo an accreditation process under the auspices of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). WASC is the Accrediting Commission for Schools (ACS) for the state of California. It is a six-year accreditation cycle, guided and assisted by the self-study, the visit, and the follow-up. A school’s philosophy and the WASC criteria serve as the underlying basis for these stages.

Accreditation affirms that a school provides its students with quality educational programs, validates the integrity of student transcripts and ensures for the benefit of colleges, universities, and the community at large that graduating students have mastered a particular body of knowledge.

WASC acknowledges that the Focus on Learning Process is in harmony with the School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA). The components for WASC and SPSA are identical in concept; the specific actions of the School Plan for Student Achievement are expressed in more detail. An accredited school is focused on a mission and goals for students; it is student-oriented and examines its students’ academic performance continuously; it accepts objective evaluation from a team of outside peer professionals trained by WASC; it maintains a qualified faculty within an effectively organized school; it collaboratively assesses the quality of its educational programs on a regular basis; and it plans for the future.

Each District school is evaluated on the basis of the WASC criteria and the appropriateness of the school’s stated purpose, schoolwide student goals and the degree to which it accomplishes these.

In fall 2016, the District initiated the WASC Accredited Middle School Initiative with the selection of six middle schools to go through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation process. In spring 2019, ACS WASC notified the District that six LAUSD middle schools - Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson, Robert Frost, Irving STEAM Magnet, Florence Nightingale, Stephen White, and Young Oak Kim Academy - met the ACS WASC criteria for Accreditation Status.

WASC Accredited (Cohort 1):

• Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle School
  
• Robert Frost Middle School
• Washington Irving Middle School Math Music Engineering Magnet
• Florence Nightingale Middle School
• Stephen M. White Middle School
• Young Oak Kim Academy

In spring 2020, eight middle schools met the ACS WASC criteria for Accreditation Status.

WASC Accredited (Cohort 2):

• Berendo Middle School
• Alexander Fleming Middle School
• Oliver Wendell Holmes Middle School
• Maywood Center for Enriched Studies (MaCES)
• Palms Middle School
• Robert E. Peary Middle School
• Francisco Sepulveda Middle School
• Orville Wright Engineering and Design Magnet