Roosevelt High School was granted accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges this week after being threatened with losing it if the school did not improve.
"We were notified that they received their two-year accreditation, which brings them back to a regular accreditation cycle," Susan Bedi, spokeswoman for Fresno Unified School District, said Wednesday.
The association of schools and colleges -- one of six regional accrediting associations -- reinspected Roosevelt in May and notified Fresno Unified officials of the decision late Tuesday.
School accreditation is significant because some colleges and military recruiters will not recognize diplomas from unaccredited schools.
The southeast Fresno high school had received a one-year accreditation last year and a list of recommendations for improvement in several areas, ranging from regular assessment of student progress to ensuring that classes are rigorous. Failing to improve could have cost accreditation.
After the report, school and district officials designed a plan to boost student performance that included extra counseling and tutoring for low-performing students. District officials said since its implementation, student assessment scores and grade-point averages are up, and attendance has improved.
The May visit was to check the school's progress. Information was then taken to a 26-member commission made up of school representatives from the accreditation association's region, which includes California and Hawaii.
A staff member for the association said the commission met Tuesday and that Roosevelt was one of several schools considered. She would not provide any other details, referring questions to David Brown, executive director for the Western Association for Schools and Colleges, who was out of the office and unavailable for comment.
Ideally, schools receive a six-year accreditation with a midterm checkup. But the commission also can grant shorter terms -- including limited one- or two-year terms -- or deny accreditation, according to information on its Web site.
Bedi could not provide specifics on why Roosevelt received a two-year accreditation and the accreditation report was not made available Wednesday.
Roosevelt's problems initially were discovered during its three-year checkup in the 2007-08 school year, resulting in the one-year accreditation with recommendations for improvement. With the two additional years recently added, Bedi said this puts the school back on a regular cycle of checkups.
She said the accreditation is proof of the progress.
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