WorldStrides Awarded Re-Accreditation from World’s Largest Agency

WorldStrides Awarded Re-Accreditation from World’s Largest Agency
School Receives Outstanding Scores For Continued Educational Quality 

(Charlottesville, VA) — The nation’s largest educational travel company, WorldStrides, received a glowing review and subsequent re-accreditation as a school from AdvancED, the largest accrediting organization in the world. On the 400-point Index of Educational Quality (IEQ), WorldStrides scored a 366, while the average for programs of a similar format is under 280 — a testament to WorldStrides’ continued emphasis on excellence.

AdvancED is the global leader in providing continuous improvement and accreditation services to over 32,000 schools and school systems employing more than four million educators and enrolling more than 20 million students across the United States and around the world.  AdvancED is the largest community of education professionals in the world.  It is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that conducts rigorous, on-site external reviews of pre-K-12 schools and school systems to ensure that all learners realize their full potential.

AdvancED was extremely complimentary of WorldStrides staff, its programs, and its mission.  The AdvancED accreditation report stated: “The leadership and staff at all levels of [WorldStrides] have committed to a culture of excellence that is consistent with the corporation’s purpose and direction.” They went on to add that “although the main purpose and focus of its core business is to provide travel study experiences for students, their collective commitment is unparalleled to ensure the experiential travel programs ‘ignite personal growth’.”

Each year, WorldStrides provides programs for over 400,000 students, ranging from upper elementary school to the post-graduate level, and more than 14,000 teachers, and travel to over 100 countries – more than any other educational travel company based in the US. The organization, which began with one Chicago teacher’s efforts to bring his students to Washington D.C., has grown exponentially since its founding in 1967 to become the industry standard and leader it is today.

“Fellow educators in other programs know what a high distinction the scores are,” commented Wendy Amato, Ph.D., WorldStrides Director of Curriculum and Academics. “Our review results are evidence of attentiveness to the best practices of teaching and learning and to our mission of igniting personal growth for students through travel at every stage of development.”

WorldStrides, the largest educational travel company based in the United States, was first accredited as a school by AdvancED in 1996, and undergoes re-accreditation every five years with the organization.

“It is an honor to be recognized by the education community for the work we do,” explained WorldStrides CEO Jim Hall. “Our commitment to the students, teachers and other educational institutions that work with us is reflected in the strong accreditation review results. We are the strongest educational travel organization with such broad accreditation and we are supported by an outstanding curriculum and academics team.”

About WorldStrides 
WorldStrides, headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., is the largest educational travel company based in the United States. The company was founded in 1967 to provide middle school travel programs to Washington, D.C., and has grown to provide educational programs for more than 400,000 students annually from more than 5,000 K12 schools and universities to over 100 countries around the world. It was the first company of its kind to achieve academic accreditation from regional bodies around the U.S. For more information on WorldStrides, visit www.worldstrides.com.