Benefits of NEASC Accreditation - Independent Schools

For almost 100 years, New England's top independent schools have trusted the New England Association of Schools and Colleges for quality assurance. With over 500 Commission on Independent School members, NEASC knows the strengths, characteristics, and diversity of New England's independent school community. 

NEASC's unparalleled Accreditation Standards, developed by New England educators and its peer review teams of individually selected independent school members, ensure that NEASC-Accredited schools are meeting and exceeding uncompromising levels of educational and institutional quality.  

With an accreditation and school improvement process that respects and embraces its members' distinct missions, visions, and values, New England's heads of schools, boards, faculty, and staff consistently place their confidence in NEASC.

Benefits of NEASC Accreditation and Membership for Independent Schools

1. Quality assurance that is guaranteed by objective standards of excellence and a close member affiliation with New England's finest independent boarding and day schools. 
2. A shared origin and century-long association with New England's world-renowned colleges and universities.  
3. A proven, mission-oriented, and child-centered approach to accreditation emphasizing purpose, innovation, inspiration, and support for the individual in all dimensions of the student's experience. 
4. A self-reflective school improvement journey with continuous support from NEASC's Directors of Accreditation and School Improvement, all of whom have careers as independent school heads. 
5. A process that champions the imperative of independent school mission alignment, excellence in admissions practices and enrollment management, principled board governance and leadership, financial sustainability and transparent accountability, uncompromising hiring and staffing practices, assurances of internationally developed safety protocols and child protection, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging while honoring each school's educational and cultural context. 
6. A cycle of improvement, informed by a visiting team’s recommendations and culminating in a learning community's future thinking and effective long-range strategic planning for growth and sustainability. 
7. An unrivaled option to explore new horizons with tailored variations on accreditation, cooperative protocols with other regional, national, and international associations, supplemental indicators to align with state approval processes, and use of the globally celebrated ACE Learning Protocol.  
8. A deliberative Commission comprised of trusted fellow educators from member schools evaluating and granting accreditation with proven experience, peer understanding, and shared NEASC expectations of excellence. 
9. A two-year and five-year reporting process providing opportunities for ongoing reflection and recollection on progress. 
10. Progress documentation for use in board reports, state-of-the-school addresses, constituent communications, marketing, and faculty onboarding and orientations. 
11. An assurance of peer review visiting teams selected from the broadest diversity of New England's independent schools and customized in collaboration with the host school to meet its precise evaluation needs, aspirations for school improvement, and lasting professional friendships. 
12. An unequaled opportunity for professional growth and development on visits to New England's most diverse schools, from the nation's oldest and most revered independent schools known for time-honored traditions, innovative classroom learning, and visionary student experiences to newer, creative, progressive learning community's boldly focused on meeting the personalized academic, social, and emotional learning needs of selected students. 
13. A network of professional learning resources as part of the NEASC global community of more than 1300 independent, public, and international schools. 
14. A quality assurance universally recognized by parents, prospective teachers, colleges, universities, the state and federal departments of education, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and foreign governments and organizations in over 100 countries.