Q&A International School Accreditation

Recognizing that “one size does not fit all”, NEASC offers multiple pathways for PK-12 international schools interested in accreditation. We meet schools where they are. These pathways include:

• our well-known ACE Learning pathway, the chosen approach for most of our schools
• the Standard Pathway, developed for schools needing more time to build strong foundations while still focusing on learning impacts
• the Collaborative Learning Protocol, a fusion of ACE Learning and IB program review that eliminates duplication of effort and keeps the focus on learning (developed in collaboration with the IB)
• a joint approach for schools interested in accreditation by both NEASC and the Council of International Schools (CIS), which offers a single protocol and a joint visiting team

For more information, please read our guide, "Accreditation Pathways for International Schools":

Step 1 - Review eligibility requirements

International schools interested in pursuing accreditation with NEASC must file an application with the NEASC Commission on International Education. But before you do so, we recommend reviewing eligibility requirements and questions to help you ascertain your school’s readiness to apply for NEASC accreditation:

• Review eligibility requirements for international schools
   

Step 2 - Submit inquiry form

After reviewing eligibility requirements and the current state and aspirations of your school, if your answer is, "Yes, our school is ready to take the next steps towards NEASC Accreditation," please fill out an inquiry form to register your interest.

• Submit a School Inquiry Form

Once you have submitted an inquiry form, a NEASC staff member will follow up with you to:

• better understand the current state of the school
• confirm whether the school is eligible to start the accreditation process
• determine which accreditation pathway would be the best fit 
   

Sign up for an online information session

We also encourage you to join one of our online information sessions titled “NEASC Accreditation for International Schools - Learn More" to gain a better understanding of the standards schools must meet, how the accreditation process can benefit the school, and have your questions answered directly by NEASC staff.

Find upcoming "Learn More" sessions on our Events page.

Assuming no delays, the process for new schools (operational for at least two years) takes about three years. The process begins with an application, and continues to the Foundation Standards or “Eligibility” phase, and then to the Preparatory or “Candidate” phase. The cycle then continues with the Internal Reflection (also called Self-Study) phase of 12-18 months culminating in the External Review Visit which finally determines the school’s accreditation status. 

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Schools follow a 5-year accreditation cycle, culminating in an External Review Visit by a team of NEASC peer reviewers. The graphic below captures the cycle for both new and returning schools.

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The size of your learning community is one factor to consider. Some schools organize their committees around the three pillars of ACE, others have ten separate committees, one for each Learning Principle. The process is yours, so you can organize it in any way that will be meaningful to your community. 

For more in-depth information please refer to the ACE Learning Guide and Ecosystem 2.0.

Schools currently accredited and in good standing with another NEASC-recognized accreditation agency and who wish to switch to or to add NEASC Accreditation may apply under NEASC’s Policy 1.6 which leads to an important two-day Foundation Standards review visit. Successful completion of the Foundation Standards review visit can lead to full NEASC Accreditation with no gap in accredited status. Examples include schools already accredited by COBIS or other internationally-respected accreditation agencies recognized by NEASC.

If a school’s initial application is accepted, then the school pays an application fee and subsequent fees for each visit. Once the school achieves “Candidate” status (generally following the Preparatory visit), the school begins paying annual dues* based on student enrollment.

FOR EXAMPLE ONLY...
A hypothetical school of 500 students with no delays in the process may have the 5-year cost breakdown shown below (based on 2023 figures). This example includes fees from application through the start of the second accreditation cycle, regardless of accreditation pathway.

*Please note that expenses associated with on-site review visits, such as appropriate travel and lodging expenses for NEASC visiting teams, and additional charges such as banking fees, local taxation, or processing fees are paid by the school (the payor) and not deducted from the member dues and fees.

For questions about current dues/fees or payments, please contact our accounting office. 

NEASC displays a list Candidate and Member schools on our online school directory. There is a brief profile for each school which shows the status and length of their association with NEASC. After a successful External Review Visit, a school's status will be shown as Accredited. When as an applicant school has hosted a successful Preparatory Visit, they will be added to the directory with Candidate status. 

www.neasc.org/school-directory

We are as excited as our members to share the news of a school's accreditation and celebrate their efforts and achievement, but we must ask that a school wait until they have received official notification from NEASC before promoting their status or using the NEASC logo in their school's materials (printed or online).

Accredited Schools - i.e., schools that have completed a successful External Review Visit - may refer to their school as "Accredited by NEASC" and use the official "NEASC Accredited" logo in their materials.

Candidates for Accreditation - i.e., schools that have hosted a successful Preparatory Visit - may refer to their school as a "Candidate for NEASC Accreditation" and use the official "NEASC Candidate" logo in their materials.

Applicant schools that have started their accreditation journey with NEASC but have not yet achieved Candidacy may refer to the process with language such as:

• "the school is engaged in the accreditation process with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)" 
• "the school has met the initial criteria to pursue candidacy with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)"
   

NEASC staff will send Candidates and Accredited schools a copy of the correct logo. We ask that you do not download logos off of the internet. If you do not receive your logo for some reason, instructions for requesting an official logo are here: www.neasc.org/promote-accreditation

For decades, NEASC used an ever-evolving accreditation protocol for all international schools, from the 1st to the 8th edition. In 2016, we stopped making incremental revisions, signaling a fundamental shift in how NEASC approaches the accreditation of international schools. Since then we have also introduced multiple pathways, including our flagship ACE Learning protocol.

ACE in particular isn’t just an improvement on a prior version; it’s a transformation of the accrediting work by schools and by NEASC. It differs by:

• Articulating “gatekeeper” Foundation Standards that are the non-negotiable requirements to be substantially met before a school may proceed to the next stage toward accreditation. This a transactional part of the accreditation process and most similar to compliance-oriented prior protocols;
• Outlining Learning Principles for ACE pathway schools that are aspirational in nature and that challenge schools to transform practices in alignment with these Principles;
• Presenting “Areas of Reflection” for Standard pathway schools that cover an array of qualities deemed critical to a successfully functioning school, including learning, teaching, wellness, inclusion, and community – without losing sight of essential work building and maintaining strong foundations;
• Looking for impacts on learners, and not merely on the various compliance-focused inputs and outputs (programs, activities, resources, etc.) as we have done in the past;
• Keeping the accreditation experience development and aspirational in nature, whenever possible.

At the heart of NEASC Accreditation are the peer reviewers who conduct the bulk of our school visits. NEASC volunteers tend to be active education professionals motivated by the opportunity to help their colleagues achieve success. To qualify for participation in accreditation visits to international schools, volunteers undergo rigorous training plus additional written work. Newly qualified visitors are usually paired with an experienced visitor for their first NEASC visit. NEASC offers periodic training for new and experienced visitors through workshops.

View upcoming workshop sessions for Visitors 

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Launched in 2021, the Collaborative Learning Protocol (CLP) is offered to schools who seek a streamlined, synchronized review process and who meet the following criteria:

• the school is qualified to pursue the NEASC ACE Learning pathway
• the school is a multi-section school authorized for two or more IB programs; or the school has only one section (primary, middle or senior) and is authorized to deliver the relevant IB program for that section (Primary Years Program-PYP, Middle Years Program-MYP, Diploma Program-DP);
• the school, together with NEASC and IB, agrees to combine review years of multiple programs into the same season

A school offering only the IB Career-related Programme (CP) is not eligible for a synchronized visit, nor is a multi-section school that offers only the DP and CP.

If you would like more information on the CLP, please contact us.

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NEASC Visitors look for progress throughout a school’s accreditation journey, and they also look for evidence of the 4 Cs which are:

• conceptual understanding of effective learning
• commitment to the transformational accreditation process
• capacity for change and the hard work demanded through NEASC accreditation
• competence to move beyond talk, to action and implementation

For more in-depth information please refer to the ACE Learning Guide and Ecosystem 2.0.

Yes. While the language of NEASC accreditation tends to be developmental in nature and recognizes that different schools will demonstrate different levels of quality, we are strict in particular about our schools aligning with our Foundation Standards. As a school moves toward later stages of the accreditation cycle, we also consider seriously how evident are the 4 Cs: Conceptual Understanding, Commitment, Capacity, and Competence.

For schools struggling to maintain sufficient progress toward accreditation or re-accreditation, we may require Special Reports and/or Special Visits. Schools may also be placed on Warning or Probation as determined by NEASC. Schools deemed by NEASC to fall short of our Standards are given opportunities to meet expectations before we would terminate a school’s accreditation journey and remove them from our directory of Candidate/Member schools.

NEASC has been intentional with the language we use. We believe that a NEASC-aligned school is characterized by a community of learners. Ideally, all adults including staff, teachers, parents, and board members as well as all children are constantly learning, adapting, and trying new things. The organization itself is also learning, reflecting, and improving itself to better serve everyone in the community.

We encourage schools and NEASC Visitors to approach accreditation with all learners in mind, not just the students.

One of the key products for schools, particularly those engaging with ACE Learning, is the development of a Shared Understanding of High-Quality Learning. NEASC previously referred to this as a Definition of Learning. Our initial years of experience supporting ACE journeys by schools around the world have helped us clarify the process.

A school’s Shared Understanding is supported by a description of the specific pedagogy, chosen by the school, that is used to achieve the desired goals.

In ACE Learning Schools, the Shared Understanding of High-Quality Learning is grounded in the ten ACE Learning Principles and Impacts, as well as other Impacts a school might have chosen. As the community develops its shared understanding, it can more easily identify the Major Learning Plans that are designed to close the gap between what the school aspires to and its current reality. For schools new to NEASC, this Shared Understanding is not expected to be fully developed until the beginning of the Internal Reflection, and then to be re-assessed every five years.

For more in-depth information please refer to the ACE Learning Guide and Ecosystem 2.0.

There are several factors involved in how schools choose to set up their committees for the 12-18 month Internal Reflection that leads to the External Review Visit. The goal is to involve the whole community in some way in the process. Ideally a workshop that includes all stakeholder groups would be held toward the end of the Internal Reflection as the school's report takes final shape.

The size of your learning community is one factor to consider. Some schools organize their committees around clusters of ACE Learning Principles, while others have ten separate committees, one for each Learning Principle. The process is yours, so you can organize it in any way that will be meaningful to your community.

• If you are a current or future school accreditation coordinator or school head wishing to pick up tips and tricks from an experienced accreditation coordinator for the internal reflection process, you may be interested in viewing this webinar:

First, for each of the ten Learning Principles, a school is asked to develop plans that are aligned with each Principle and that will help the school reach the goals it has articulated as "Where we want to be". After reviewing the range of plans developed for each Learning Principle, the school — most likely led by the ACE Design Team (steering committee) — develops 4-6 Major Learning Plans that draw on the plans expressed for each Principle.

In some cases, plans for a few of the ten Principles may coalesce into one of Major Learning Plans. In other cases, a school may identify individual plans aligned with Learning Principles that would have the greatest positive impact on learning at the school, and considers those plans the ‘Major Learning Plans’. The learning community's collective efforts in the following months and years aim to achieve the goals expressed in these plans.

First, NEASC is proud to have shared in the development of many of the structures of modern American secondary schooling through our involvement with the Committee of Ten (1894) that clarified guidelines on high school curriculum and pedagogy; the College Entrance Examination Board (1900) that oversees today’s AP and SAT tests; and other early 20th century American innovations, including K-12 accreditation itself.

Today, as in the past, accreditation by NEASC shows that a school both meets high international standards and enjoys official recognition by the oldest accrediting agency in the US — a status considered essential by post-secondary institutions around the world, as well as by many international education ministries. While NEASC technically accredits schools and not diplomas, we encourage schools to share their NEASC Accreditation status with all interested parties and on relevant documents including student diplomas and transcripts. In particular, schools offering a four-year American-style high school program are well advised to obtain and maintain NEASC Accreditation. [View "The Value of K-12 Accreditation"]

For more information on offering a high school diploma, please contact cie@neasc.org.

While NEASC documentation, reporting and visits are conducted almost exclusively in English, the Commission on International Education team includes staff proficient in Spanish, French, Italian, and Greek. When possible, NEASC team members who speak other key languages of a school are asked to facilitate conversations during school visits with stakeholders who may be less comfortable in English. Bilingual schools and others offering at least 50% of their curriculum in English are encouraged to apply for NEASC Accreditation.

NEASC offers a limited amount of consulting outside of the usual accreditation work. While all schools receive a short leadership workshop during their Preparatory visits, some schools would like more support to introduce the ideas of NEASC ACE Learning to their community or to take the conversation deeper. We are open to discussing the specific needs of a school, but the following is a list of workshops we commonly offer:

• Introduction to ACE Learning (full day)
• Deep Dive into a few ACE Learning Principles (1 day or more)
• Developing a Shared Understanding of High-Quality Learning (half or full day)
• Collaborative Learning Protocol: Connecting the IB, the ACE Learning Principles and your school’s Mission
• Setting your school up for success: Introduction to the Foundation Standards (workshop for leadership teams and owners)

When a school is accredited by NEASC, there are several ways that the process is adapted for subsequent cycles:

• Schools accredited on the Standard pathway will generally enter the ACE Learning Pathway for their next cycle rather than continue on the Standard pathway.
• At approximately the four-year mark after initial NEASC accreditation, schools will be scheduled for a Preparatory Visit. During this Visit, the school will conduct an abbreviated Foundation Standards Review in addition to the Preparatory report and visit. This ensures that NEASC-accredited schools maintain alignment with the Foundation Standards.
• Schools that are utilizing the ACE Learning pathway for the second round will focus on only five of the ten Learning Principles in their Internal Reflection process, in recognition of the school’s previous work and desire to focus further on certain areas.

Yes. As educational models have shifted, NEASC has adjusted to meet the accreditation needs of online schools. Online schools follow the ACE Learning pathway for NEASC accreditation, a framework that is well suited to the innovative world of online learning. Online schools must meet the same Foundation Standards as brick-and-mortar schools, but in a contextually appropriate way.

NEASC considers applications from online schools who: 

• have been fully operational for at least two full years
• offer a full-time educational experience to students via an online experience 
• function as a learning community where relationships between stakeholders are strong  
• are able to benefit from the NEASC accreditation process including a rigorous Internal Reflection process 
• are legally authorized to operate as an online school in the headquarters location 
• offer an English-Medium curriculum that is publicly accessible for students from a variety of countries

If your online school is interested in NEASC accreditation, the first step is to set up a call to discuss the school’s eligibility to apply. Contact gedwards@neasc.org.