Northwest Association of Accredited Schools

The premier accreditation agency for distance education and travel education schools

Our Mission

"The mission of the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools is to advance excellence in education through the process of accreditation." Accreditation promotes continual school improvement leading to greater student achievement.

The Northwest Association of Accredited Schools accredits distance education, elementary, foreign nation, high, K‑12, middle level, post secondary nondegree granting, residential, special purpose, supplementary education, and travel education schools.

The Northwest Association of Accredited schools is one of the nation's six acknowledged accreditation agencies. The geographic territory of the Association consists of the states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, and other geographical areas designated from time to time by the Board of Trustees.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools web site. We are committed to provide the information, materials and templates necessary for you to conduct your accreditation activities. Please review the items on both the top menu and the left side menu to access the information you need.

New schools may wish to access the Getting Started page that provides information, an application and the Initial Visit Template. Current member schools should access the state web site by clicking on the map of the states in the region on the left menu to find the link to your state accreditation web site, annual report templates and other materials particular to each individual state in the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools region. These links are maintained by each state accreditation committee and contain specific information pertinent to each state’s Initial Visit fees, annual reporting, and self-study processes. The Idaho State Accreditation Committee charges a rate of $100 for initial visits. The Washington State Accreditation Committee charges a rate of $250 for initial visits and is conducting a pilot with a unique annual reporting procedure. The remaining five states charge a reimbursement for initial visit travel costs and require an annual report.Northwest Association of Accredited Schools Evidence-Based School Evaluation (EBSE) includes the use of self-study documents. Schools scheduled for a self-study and team visit will find two versions below in the Most Requested Documents section or on the left menu of this web site. Please contact your particular state accreditation committee or the International and Transregional Division commissioner about specific details for the use of these documents.

Our Standards

ourstandards

Northwest Association of Accredited Schools is a legal corporation located in the state of Idaho and that being accredited by same is and always has been valid and acknowledged by the other five regional accreditation associations, all of the commissions on colleges and universities. The Northwest Association of Accredited Schools has been acknowledged along with the other five commissions on schools since 1917, and we serve all of our member schools through our state committees and the International and Transregional Division. Please direct all inquiries to info@northwestaccreditation.org.