What is NAAS?

Northwest Association of Accredited Schools

History of the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools

Historical Perspectives

The Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools was formed as a voluntary organization on April 5, 1917 with a membership of 25 secondary schools and eight higher institutions in four northwestern states. By December 2008, this membership increased to over 2000. Presently, the organization functions in seven states: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington along with other geographical areas of the United States and the world.  In 1967 the Northwest Association of Member Schools and Colleges in California and Hawaii transferred their schools to the then recently formed Western Association of Schools and colleges. It developed as one of six regional associations of secondary and higher schools organized between 1885 and 1967.

In December 1974, the title of the association was changed to: Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. In December 2001, the association's name was changed to the Northwest Association of Schools and of Colleges and Universities. On February 1, 2004 the association's name was changed to its current name, the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools.

Member Growth

There were just over 1100 member schools in 1988 when the current executive director took office. There are now over 1900 representing nearly a 60% increase.  This average annual growth of nearly 40 new members per year is attributed largely to the seven state accreditation committees.

In 1988 there were only five categories of schools: high schools, middle level, elementary, special purpose, and K-12 unit schools. NAAS has now expanded to include distance education, supplementary education, travel study, post-secondary non-degree granting, and international schools. Not only are schools public and private, but they are not-for-profit and proprietary as well. As such, we are the only commission in the country to have such a diverse membership. Public schools accounted for 90% of the membership during the 1987-1988 school year.  In 2002-2003 approximately 33% of our members are private schools a 23% increase in fifteen years.  Private, proprietary schools are the fastest growing category of schools.

Commission Size

The commission size has changed significantly over the years. In 1988 there were 21 commissioners (three per state) and the commission chair. In 1997 the association added the fourth member of each state accreditation committee and four of the states had designated state secretaries. Also added were the commissioner for higher education, independent schools, and one member representing the public. As recently as 1998 three additional members of the public were included and all of the states had designated secretaries.

The total number on the Commission is now 36, or nearly twice the original number. There are seven state executive secretaries and a number of clerical secretaries for some states.

Policies and Procedures

In June of 1989, the initial copy of the commission Polices and Procedures was developed.  It continues to be an active and useful document that governs the actions of the Commission and includes the bylaws, articles of incorporation, and rules and regulations.  It is updated continually and approved by the Commission. Changes in the bylaws must be approved by the member schools.

Commission Meetings

As the size of the Commission grew, so did the number and nature of meetings. Formally the commission had a single business meeting in December that was held in conjunction with the Association. The primary responsibility for the meeting was to review the annual reports from member schools. Now reports are reviewed by individual states and a list of recommended school ratings presented for approval at the Commission meeting only. Fewer member delegates attend the annual meeting of the Commission. There used to be over 600 members attend for the purpose of reviewing reports, there are usually less than 100 depending on the theme and invitation.

Beginning in 1997 the commission started to have bi-annual Commission meetings. The summer meeting of the Commission replaced the former “Executive Committee” that met between annual commission meetings to discuss standards, finance, and policy matters. This serves the commission very well with its long-standing goal to increase commissioner role and responsibility.

Conferences vs Delegate Assembly

The member school historically gathered in a delegate assembly for the purpose of evaluating and rating all member schools. This peer review now occurs largely in the state advisory and accreditation committees. The commission had found that an annual assembly was too broad of a base to entice members. Conferences geared toward specific school categories and specific needs are the trend in 2008. Recent conferences have dealt with distance education schools, special purpose schools and international schools.

Standing Committees

Building on the idea of participative management, the commission established various standing committees. The purpose was to divest authority and increase commissioner participation in the decision-making process. Even though the standing committees are advisory in nature, through their annual meetings they have become the essence of commission direction. Each commissioner is now appointed by the Commission Chair to at least one of the standing committees.

State Accreditation Committees, which grew from three to four persons (plus secretaries over the years), have proven to be the vital working agents for the Commission. The State Advisory Committees assist the State Accreditation Committees with their work within each of the states. The Executive Director or the Associate Director attends these State Accreditation and State Advisory committee meetings. 

The financial assistance to state committees has changed significantly over the years. This increase better accommodates paid officials and the increase in state accreditation activities.  In 1988, a total of 18% of the dues revenues was subvented to state committees.  By 1998, this total was increased to a national high of 40% being granted to state chairs.  Final accountability is now accomplished through audits as the association office provides the financial support and answerability for all seven states. 

Geography

The Northwest Association’s geography has significantly changed over the years. In 1988 the association was strictly bound to the seven state northwest region. The association joined the other five regional accrediting associations in 1991 as volunteer Council of Regional School Accrediting Commissions to expand our borders to include “national schools” outside the United States. The association has relied upon and is looked up to for the accreditation of distance education schools in other regions as well.

Beginning in 1992, we became the first regional association to accredit “national” schools worldwide. It was quite apparent from our activities in Russia that this involvement with schools would prove to be beneficial both to the recipient schools as well as to individual commissioners who would be given the opportunity to share cultures, professional experiences, and social awareness with educators around the world.

The northwest’s national school accreditation effort began in 1992 with Togliatti, Russia. It has now been expanded to work with schools in approximately fifteen other countries. The accreditation of “national schools” is seen as a virtue and need as the United States participates in a global economy and as English becomes even more of an international language.

The Association

The commission had a long and worthy association with the colleges’ commission that dates back to 1917.   The two commissions used to meet together for the annual meeting of the association until 1994. As times changed and needs changed so did the organizations. In the 1990’s most of the other regions eliminated full-time paid executive director positions for their associations, deferring instead to commission executive directors. This led to further separation of finances, cooperative annual meetings, individual bylaws, and housing agreements. Currently only two of the regional associations are located in the same facility and only one has a full-time association executive director. Only one of the associations has a cooperative annual meeting at this time.

The next evolution in relations between the schools’ commissions and those of higher education led to two regions separately incorporating their commissions, retaining only the regional name for identification purposes.

As far as Northwest accreditation is concerned, it has changed names three times in its history. It was initially known as the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools until 1974, then the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges until 2000, and finally the Northwest Association of Schools and of Colleges and Universities. In 2004 the association's name was changed to its current name, the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools. At that time the two commissions un-incorporated as well. The move had been in the offing for nearly ten years. It was precipitated by the national movement of other regional associations and not by any particular reason within the Northwest region. In the resolution to the Commission on Schools and from discussions over the preceding ten years, the idea to separate was largely promulgated by the growing fact that there were few issues of mutual interest for the two commissions. It was a national trend.

Third-Party Accreditation

In 1998 the Northwest Association developed the notion of third-party accreditation. Working with the Strategic Planning Committee, the Northwest association developed the 15 points of quality assurance that third-party agencies must provide evidence that they “equal or exceed” existing commission expectations for accreditation. After meeting with some of the agencies that would be impacted (PNAIS, NLSA, SDA, and others), NAAS devised a practical protocol for implementing the third-party accreditation program. Seven approved third party agencies are approved: PNAIS, NLSA, SDA, ACSI, CSI, ACTS, and WCEA. Currently, nearly ten percent of NAAS member schools are third-party accredited. The third-party accreditation concept proved to be a vital, progressive and necessary element of our modern accreditation system that was designed to ensure efficacy while minimizing effort.

EBSE

Beginning as early as 1984, the Commission on Schools had been integrally involved in the evolution from inputs to outputs as the focus for school evaluation. This involvement was enhanced considerably by the leadership and focus transition at National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE) that occurred in 1988. This change resulted in a cooperative national effort to implement the concept of the school improvement plan (SIP) model for school accreditation.

As early as 1993, the Northwest Association planned and implemented various inservices for state accreditation committees and the Commission on Schools designed to train and indoctrinate leaders with the concept of the SIP. In the late 1990’s the Commission on Schools voted to formally adopt the SIP process, requiring every school to engage when their next evaluation was due, if not sooner.

The partial success of the SIP brought about the concept of Evidence-Based School Evaluation (EBSE). The varying degree of saturation and success helped to establish the need for EBSE. EBSE is a comprehensive and integrated approach to accreditation. All documents and forms follow a common format and identification system. The program does allow for, and encourages state accountability initiatives as part of the Standard Indicators and in Standard VIII School Improvement Standard: Culture of Continual Improvement.

The components of EBSE contain:
1. Application,
2. Eight Accreditation Standards,
3. Initial Visit Template for Provisional Accreditation,
4. Annual Report Template,
5. Self-study Consensus Model Template,
6. Self-study Narrative Model Template, and the
7. EBSE Self-study Resource Manual: Administrative, Steering Committee, and Resource Team.
8. Visiting Team Report Templates.

The Revised Accreditation Standards were piloted by all member schools as a part of the fall 2006 annual reporting process. Some states developed individual templates that include reference to unique requirements for that particular state. Those templates can be accessed through the web site links to each state accreditation committee web page. Individual templates for the annual reporting, Consensus Self-study, and Narrative Self-study have been developed for the eleven sub-groups of schools. The annual reports provided for the individual sub-groups of schools were clarified, strengthened, and made more applicable to the particular group of schools by delegates at various focus group input sessions. Additional materials include Response Team Templates, and a sample self-study report included in the EBSE Self-study Resource Manual.

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©2005 Northwest Association of Accredited Schools