CAIS Accreditation Process

This Accreditation Process can be broken down in five key sections.

Announcements

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Self Study

Over the course of 12 to 18 months, a school pursuing accreditation/reaccreditation will conduct a Self Study guided by the CAIS Accreditation Guidelines. These Guidelines contain Indicators of Effective Practice for each of the 12 National Standards.

The essence of this process is that the school, involving all of its constituents, examines all aspects of its school strategy, education program and school operations against the National Standards, seeking to discover its strengths, areas for growth, future strategy, and examining how well its program fulfils its mission.

If this process is done conscientiously and insightfully, the resulting document will clearly and accurately communicate the school’s current state and future goals to the Peer Review Team.

Peer Review

A Peer Review Team is assembled of school leaders and educators from similar CAIS schools who represent various areas of expertise and experience.

Working from the school’s Self Study, the Peer Review Team spends four days in the school meeting with the entire community including students, faculty and staff, parents, alumni and Board members. The Peer Review Team observes classes and all other activities of the school.

The Peer Review Team’s objective is to validate the school’s Self Study and further support the school to prioritize opportunities for growth.

Peer Review Report

Each member of the Peer Review Team is responsible for investigating various Indicators of Effective Practices within the school. Following the review, each Peer Review Team member contributes to a comprehensive Peer Review Report.

This report contains an overview of where the school stands in terms of each Indicator of Effective Practice and offers commendations (what the school is doing exceptionally well) and recommendations (areas of growth that require action by CAIS).

School Improvement Action Plan

Using the Standards rubrics and summaries within the School Self Study Report as well as the Peer Review report, the School’s Leadership Team will discuss and draft a School Improvement Action Plan. Components of the School Improvement Action Plan include:

Priorities that are self, and Peer Review-initiated areas for growth. These priorities will be updated upon receipt of Peer Review Report recommendations.

Actions that are the specific tasks which lead to the realization of the priority.

Responsibility that includes the person(s) responsible for the specific task, including job title to ensure continuity of the School Improvement Action Plan if there is a staff change.

Resources should include:

Financial
Human
Professional Learning
Time/ Spatial

Timeline as it relates to priority level including month and year. The chart below provides guidelines in determining the priority level of actions within the School Improvement Action Plan.

Assessment Criteria that describe how the School will know they have accomplished their goal.

The School Improvement Action Plan should include responses to all recommendations from the Peer Review Report and have clear alignment with the School’s strategic priorities and strategic implementation dashboard.

Accreditation Decisions

The Peer Review Report and School Improvement Action Plan are provided to the CAIS Evaluation Council. The Evaluation Council reviews the report and advises the CAIS Board on its findings and a decision on accreditation.

The Peer Review Report is finalized once the CAIS Board approves a decision on accreditation. At this time, the school communicates the results of the review with their community. The School Improvement Action Plan is an opportunity for Schools to shape their work in Years Two to Five of the Accreditation Cycle. The School reports annually to CAIS with updates to their School Improvement Action Plan.

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CAIS Accreditation Process

Announcements

Self Study

Peer Review

Peer Review Report

School Improvement Action Plan

Accreditation Decisions