Is accreditation the right process for your school/program?
Walk through each phase of the accreditation process, discover the time commitments, and determine your level of readiness.
Minimum Eligibility Requirements for Enrollment
- The school/program and its instructional program, including pedagogy and content, must be a suitable match for the ACSI accreditation protocol (ACSI does not accredit online schools/homeschools/homeschool consortiums etc.)
- Rubric Indicator 3.2: Enrollment is sufficient to establish the viability of the school/program. (The school/program meets the needs and the abilities of those enrolled.)
- A recommended guideline for a complete unit has a minimum number of 75 students per unit or 150 students for a complete K–12 unit.
- Early education programs must have a minimum of 10 children enrolled for accreditation consideration.
- Contact your regional representative to get more specific information on eligibility.
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Step 1: Preliminary Phase
The school is responsible to initiate the following:
- Purchase the REACH: Accreditation Manual
- Submit application and fee to your regional office
- Schedule Candidacy Status Visit to determine level of readiness
- Once candidacy is established place a timeline (three years maximum) for candidacy review
- ACSI will assign to the candidate school a consultant
- Appoint self-study steering committee by the school/program
- Continue activities to attain all standards, which are listed in manual above
- Based on the timeline, the self-study begins—usually during last year of candidacy
Step 2: Self-Study Phase
The school/program completes the following with the guidance of the consulant/chair:
- Consultant and school/program set date for visiting committee
- Sub-committees conduct self-study and complete section reports
- Sections are edited by the steering committee and approved by entire faculty and school/program leadership
- Plans and priorities section of self-study are completed
- Self-study is compiled with the supporting data
- Self-study is sent to each member of the visiting committee
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Step 3: The Visiting Committee Phase
The visiting committee’s responsibilities are:
- Reviews the school’s/program's self-study
- Observes the school/program operation
- Interviews faculty in light of self-study
- Writes report on each self-study section and instructional area
- Compiles findings into a composite report
- Writes summary report of commendations and recommendations
- Conducts an exit interview with the school/program staff to summarize findings of visit
- Chairperson submits report to regional commission
Step 4: Accreditation Commission Phase
The commission’s responsibilities include:
- Reviews the report of the visiting committee
- Confirms school/program has met accreditation standards
- Decides on the school’s/program's accreditation
- Determines any conditions the school must meet
- Notifies the school/program of the decision
- Sends a copy of visiting committee report to the school/program and ACSI headquarters
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Step 5: Maintain Accreditation
To maintain accreditation a school’s/program's responsibilities include:
- Modifying school Action Plans according to the commission report
- Implementing action plans
- Documenting progress in annual reports and mid-term (when required) reports
- Maintaining all accreditation standards
- Paying annual fee
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