Accreditation

A Visiting Team, comprised of peers from other independent schools, visits the school, views it through the lens of its mission statement, the NJAIS Standards for Accreditation, and the school’s Self-Study Report. Following this visit, the Visiting Team provides the school and the NJAIS Accreditation Committee with a draft report that includes the team’s observations, commendations, and recommendations. 

Between one and three months after the Decennial Visit, the school receives from NJAIS a final comprehensive Decennial Report and learns of its accreditation status. This Decennial Report lays the foundation for future school improvement and strategic planning/thinking/visioning.

Within one year of the receipt of the Decennial Report, the school must submit to NJAIS an Action Plan.  The school chooses three to five overarching goals or initiatives on which it intends to focus in the coming years.  This Action Plan must also include responses to all of the recommendations in the Decennial Report.   

Five years after the initial visit, a team of two or three members - from the original Visiting Team, if possible - visit the school.  In advance of this visit, the school writes a Five-Year Report, including a state-of-the-school update, a description of progress on recommendations from the Decennial Report, and a response to the current NJAIS Standards for Accreditation. Accreditation status is evaluated again at this five-year juncture.

During the time that a school is accredited by NJAIS it may undergo significant changes.  The NJAIS accreditation process requires that a visit to the campus of the school take place as soon as possible - or within six months at most - following the change(s). Accreditation status is evaluated again after a Significant Change Visit. Annually, schools present a current assessment with the Standards for Accreditation and report any significant changes at the school.