2. Go to the Web site of the accrediting authority for the part of the country where the school is located. Usually the organization is Association of Schools and Colleges, so search for that. Private schools have their own organizations, so go to the Web site of a well-known private school and see what credentialing organizations they point to.

3. See if the school on the diploma is listed. Some people make up school names. Some home-schooled kids get tired of explaining why they don’t have a diploma. And then there are “diploma mills,” where the school is a post-office box and you can graduate for $10 if you want. Some people are just very good with PhotoShop and their laser printer. The appearance of the diploma won’t tell you if it is fake – you have to check out the school itself.

4. If the school is legitimate, go to the school’s Web site – does the school and district name on the diploma match exactly the one on the Web site? The Web site will have contact information. Call or email the administrator or student records office and ask about the diploma.

5. If it’s really important, ask the office if the student who is named on the diploma really graduated from the school, during the year the diploma states.

6. If it’s your diploma, it would be good to run this check anyway, just to be sure it will check out if someone else needs to check.

If Continental Academy is not an accredited school, good luck!

What does matter is whether or not this Continental Academy is an accredited school. By the looks of it:

http://www.continentalacademy.com/faqs-accreditation.html

it is ok. Maybe you should have researched this before going that route.

If you are still unsure, call your nearest college or one you might want to attend. Ask for the undergraduate admissions office. Then tell them how you got your high school diploma and from where. If the person hasn’t heard of it, tell them that they have credentials from the groups on the website above.

If you are still unsure after that, call the listed places on that page and tell them that they claim approval from them. If they say it is all good, then you are ok.

But, bottom line is that the piece of paper from any school is no good if it won’t hold up to a quick background check.