Accreditation &
Certification
Cognia accreditation and certification are like no others. Our research-based performance standards give your institution a shared framework to achieve measurable, meaningful improvement. No other accrediting agency gives you actionable data from a team of professional reviewers—or continues to guide you to leverage your strengths for improvement. Get more for your efforts—and proudly display a seal of educational quality that is recognized worldwide.
A premier diagnostic tool for school improvement
For more than 125 years, schools have been inviting Cognia and our legacy agencies, NCA CASI | NWAC | SACS CASI, into their classrooms. Why? Because we go beyond evaluating school quality. We provide trusted expertise and actionable ideas that move the needle on school quality.
Accreditation is a launchpad for school improvement. Based on rigorous research-based standards and evidence-based criteria, the process probes the whole institution—from policies to learning conditions and cultural context—to determine how well the parts work together to meet the needs of every learner.
Accreditation isn’t about passing a one-time inspection—it helps education providers meet improvement goals and sustain commitments to better learner outcomes. Furthermore, the Cognia system accreditation model provides an efficient approach to have your entire system reviewed once per accreditation cycle and delivers pivotal insights to help set improvement priorities across schools.
Build on your success
Gain clarity
Receive third-party input
Bring out the best
Accreditation: The pursuit of excellence
Cognia Performance Standards are at the heart of continuous improvement and accreditation. They define the characteristics of a good education institution and provide guidelines for efforts that will energetically and visibly grow learners, teachers, leaders, and organizations.
New standards
Every six years, we complete a development cycle to examine and update the Cognia Performance Standards. The current Cognia Performance Standards, which went into effect on July 1, 2022, apply to all K–12 and postsecondary institutions except Early Learning and Extended Learning, which have separate standards.
More insight, more collaboration
The current accreditation protocol is six years for most institutions. The six-year accreditation term adds more time for institutions to identify, implement, and evaluate improvement activities; and additional touchpoints throughout the term will provide more support from Cognia.
Institutions new to Cognia begin with to familiarize themselves with Cognia and the accreditation process. All institutions engage in the three main phases of accreditation: Self-Assessment, Engagement, and Progress.
Essential to accreditation. as well as certification processes, is the Engagement Review—an in-depth exploration of your institution that uses your own evidence, plus stakeholder input and expert analysis, to identify noteworthy practices and next steps for improvements.
You get guidance and support from dedicated Cognia experts through all the phases and activities.
Preparation* and Self-Assessment: Your process begins with team orientation and training from Cognia. Then your team begins to reflect and collaborate; you’ll identify and collect the evidence that most meaningfully demonstrates your strengths and challenges.
Cognia-led Engagement Review: Your Cognia team then reviews your evidence and data, and analyzes all input against the Cognia Performance Standards and Rubrics.
Engagement Review Report: The Cognia team will synthesize all the input, identify patterns of strength, and recommend how to apply your institution’s strengths to improve, discussing all the conclusions with you.
Approval: Cognia’s Global Commission confirms that the findings in the report demonstrate your institution’s commitment and quality and confers your accreditation.
Progress: This new phase is a scheduled follow-up for your institution to assess the status of your continuous improvement efforts and get continued collaboration and guidance from your Cognia team, helping you sustain momentum toward your goals.
Get an infographic for a visualization of the above process.
To qualify for accreditation, education providers must follow Cognia’s accreditation policies.
See examples of educational practices that are aligned with Cognia Performance Standards.
The Global Commission
STEM Certification: Recognizing innovation
Cognia’s STEM Certification guides leaders with a specific framework and improvement process, culminating in recognition for programs that demonstrate a strong and effective STEM focus. If your institution seeks STEM Certification, you will host a STEM Certification Review simultaneously with your Accreditation Engagement Review. The STEM Certification Review is conducted by experienced educators, including specialists in the STEM disciplines.
The evaluators look for hallmarks of quality as described in Cognia’s STEM Certification Standards. These standards, which Cognia identified through robust research and extensive observations, focus on characteristics like problem-based experiential learning and the integration of STEM thinking into a broad range of activities and learning opportunities.
STEM Certification from Cognia empowers your Early Learning and K–12 institutions to:
- Convey to parents and staff your commitment to high-quality STEM education
- Build awareness in your community and increase expectations for STEM education
- Encourage enrollment with a unique differentiator
Competency-Based Education (CBE) Certification: Recognizing individual mastery
Cognia’s Competency Based Education (CBE) Certification provides the framework for designing and successfully implementing competency-based education in a school or school system. Working in collaboration with the Aurora Institute’s CompetencyWorks initiative, the world’s leading research organization for competency-based education, Cognia has developed CBE Standards that provide an opportunity for self-evaluation and recognition by Cognia, the world’s largest education improvement agency.
Cognia recognizes that interest in the CBE movement is growing rapidly across the United States and around the world. Cognia’s CBE Standards and certification process can ensure that schools and school systems can effectively embed the key elements of CBE. Cognia’s CBE certification empowers your schools to:
- Demonstrate commitment to a unique learning plan for all students
- Recruit teachers and learners who are committed to the concepts of CBE
- Demonstrate to your community your pledge to cutting-edge education practices
Clear goals, visible accomplishments
We work with schools and systems of all types and sizes across the globe to help you meet the needs of every student. Cognia provides a clear set of standards and criteria for accreditation and certification. Meeting 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.
Informed evaluators
Many factors in your community, such as enrollment, geography, and economics, influence your decisions and planning. Educators who understand your environment and challenges lead your review. They leverage your stakeholder perceptions and classroom observation results to form a complete picture before finalizing an evaluation.
Ongoing support for your efforts
Your Cognia team connects with you beyond your review, checking in to discuss your progress and help you overcome obstacles. You also have ongoing access to the online Cognia Improvement Platform, tools and resources that help you measure key components of school quality and student engagement.
Valued recognition
Accreditation and certification are accomplishments worth sharing, to let your community know that your institution upholds high standards of education quality. Schools and systems that further stand out—as demonstrated through their Engagement Reviews—are designated Cognia Schools and Systems of Distinction for the year of their accreditation.
Required training for institutions with upcoming engagement reviews starting in school year 2022-23 and beyond:
Engagement Review Training. Register >
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 certification. Cognia addresses the unique requirements for education institutions in the U.S. and around the world:
- Global Ministries
- Large Agencies
- Systems and Districts
- Individual Schools
- Early Learning
- Digital Learning
- And More