The accreditation process does not align with Thales Academy's mission and would prevent Thales Academy from maintaining our standard of the highest quality education. Too often, accreditation burdens staff and teachers with bureaucratic requirements, forces harmful changes to core policies and curricula, and does not correlate positively with student performance (this is evidenced by low graduation rates in accredited schools).

At Thales Academy, we prefer to concentrate our full efforts on student achievement, academic excellence, and character and skills development.

Parents are often concerned that secondary school accreditation affects college placement. It is important to note that college and university admissions are based on student achievement, SAT/ACT test scores, and high school transcripts, not accreditation. Colleges make independent evaluations on the rigor and quality of each high school's grading system and programs, regardless of accreditation status.

Thales Academy students have gained acceptance to the following colleges and universities:

Thales Academy offers excellent academic preparation and our test scores prove repeatedly that Thales Academy students are far ahead of their peers nationally in all subjects and on the PSAT. Colleges across the US make no requirements that their applicants must graduate from accredited schools, but they do look for students, like those found at Thales Academy, who excel academically and are well formed to succeed in college and beyond.

For those with further concerns about accreditation, consider the following:

• From the North Carolina Division of Non-Public Education: North Carolina Division of Non-Public Education: "Most colleges accept students from a non-accredited high school (public or private) as long as: (a) The school is in compliance with the school laws of the state in which it is located; (b) The prospective college student achieves a certain minimum score on either the ACT (American College Test) or the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test)." Thales Academy is in full compliance with North Carolina school laws, which can be viewed here .
• Headmaster Brad Watkins of our sister school, St. Thomas More Academy: "We send all of our graduates to four-year colleges. There isn't…a place on any part of the college application that asks if the student attended an accredited school." St. Thomas More Academy maintains a consistent record of impressive college acceptances and scholarship awards each year.
• Homeschooling: Currently, there are over 100,000 homeschool students in NC and nearly 2,000,000 across the US. These students are not associated with any accredited institution, yet they still successfully apply and gain admission to colleges and universities each year.
• Recent events concerning Wake County Public Schools show that accreditation companies can go beyond their primary purpose of evaluation and attempt to change major policies and curricula, which is completely counter to Thales Academy's insistence on independence.

Thales Academy is dedicated to providing the best possible opportunities to every student.