correspondence school

American  

noun

1. a school operating on a system in which study materials and tests are mailed to the students, who in turn mail their work back to the school for grading.

---

correspondence school British  

noun

1. an educational institution that offers tuition ( correspondence courses ) by post

---

Etymology

Origin of correspondence school

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

That focus came after a judge found that laws around correspondence school allotments “were drafted with the express purpose of allowing purchases of private educational services with the public correspondence student allotments.”

From Seattle Times • May 16, 2024

Meuser graduated from Oak Brook College of Law, an unaccredited Christian correspondence school that has an impressive bar exam passage rate.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 27, 2022

Deaf from birth, he was sent by his parents to a specialized school, where, in addition to learning Swedish sign language in class, he taught himself written English and German through a correspondence school.

From New York Times • Aug. 29, 2022

Instead, Emerson offered distance courses through the University of Nebraska High School, a onetime correspondence school.

From Washington Post • Oct. 29, 2021

I was concentrating on one of the maps the correspondence school had sent her for a course in map reading and mapmaking.

From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George