GAC Accreditation Standards for Middle and High Schools

TNT Academy, a private educational institution, helps middle and high school students reach their career and college goals through both traditional and nontraditional courses of study. Located in Stone Mountain, Georgia, TNT Academy is accredited by the Georgia Accrediting Commission (GAC).

To become accredited by the GAC, schools must meet certain requirements. For high schools, the institution must provide education from grades 10 through 12 or seven through 12. School days must be at least six hours long without break and lunch periods and consist of instructional periods that are at least 55 minutes long. The required average class size is 30.8, though this varies by type of course; for example, remedial classes not involving aides cannot be larger than 18 students, while choral music classes cannot be larger than 80.

Middle schools must also have school days that are at least six hours long. However, the average class size for the entire school must be 28.6 students instead of 30.8. Similar to high school requirements, middle school principals must have at least half of their time free for supervising instruction, and the media center must have at least 10 books per student. 

In addition to the above, teachers in both middle and high schools must have at least 30 minutes each day for instruction preparation, and a minimum of 60 percent of students must be from an accredited feeder school.

The above standards are just some of the requirements maintained by the GAC.