Accreditation &
Certification
With Cognia’s standards-based protocols and holistic approach to accreditation and certification, your school and your students are empowered to succeed.
Stand out from the crowd
Build on your success
Gain recognition for your school and validate school quality efforts. You know your school’s strengths. Achieving Cognia accreditation or STEM certification lets others know, too.
Gain clarity and perspective
Work with a partner you can trust. For more than 100 years, we’ve provided objective feedback to thousands of schools around the globe.
Receive expert third-party evaluation
Apply your strengths to new goals
Clear goals, visible accomplishments
We work with schools and systems of all types and sizes across the globe to clearly assess the quality of your institution and to help you meet the needs of every student. Cognia provides an explicit set of standards and criteria for accreditation and certification. Meeting and exceeding those standards results in a valuable recognition of excellence.
Meaningful feedback
Our experienced teams gather evidence about the quality of your learning environments using Cognia’s performance standards and research instruments. A thorough report gives you both a broad understanding and detailed insights into where your school or system excels and where you need to invest resources.
Evaluators who understand you
One size does not fit all. Schools and systems adapt to a changing environment. Many factors, such as enrollment, geography, community affluence, and more, influence decisions and planning. Educators who understand the environment will lead your review. The teams meet your stakeholders, hold conversations, and make observations to form a complete picture before finalizing an evaluation.
Resources to support continuous improvement
An online suite of continuous improvement tools and resources helps you identify and measure key components of school quality and student engagement that empower teachers and students.
Accreditation
Guiding the pursuit of excellence
Based on a set of rigorous research-based standards and evidence-based criteria, the accreditation process examines the whole institution–its policies, programs, practices, learning conditions, and cultural context–to determine how well the parts work together to carry out the institution’s vision and meet the needs of every learner. Accreditation isn’t about passing a one-time inspection. Rather, accreditation recognizes education providers that demonstrate and sustain their commitments to continuous improvement and better learner outcomes.
Meaningful performance standards
We have developed quality standards and processes that meet the unique requirements for:
Educator commitments
In order to earn Cognia accreditation, education providers:
- Meet the accreditation performance standards, assurances, and policies
- Demonstrate quality assurance through internal and engagement reviews
- Engage in continuous improvement
Accrediting divisions
Cognia accreditation represents the unified policies and procedures for accreditation and certification from its Accreditation Divisions:
- North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI)
- Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC)
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI)
NCA CASI, SACS CASI, and NWAC comprise three of the six regionally recognized K-12 accrediting bodies and together have been accrediting institutions for 125 years.
Serving educators at every level
Education agency leaders
High-level leaders and their teams work with Cognia to set priorities, identify resources, and track progress of improvement efforts for their institutions. Cognia partners with you to design programs and services that fit your specific needs.
System and school leaders
Work with Cognia to achieve the recognition you deserve through accreditation and STEM certification. Cognia addresses the unique requirements for education institutions in the U.S. and around the world:
- States
- Global Ministries
- Large Agencies
- Systems and Districts
- Individual Schools
- Digital Learning Programs
- And More