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Expectations for Accredited Schools


Accreditation is the educational community’s means of self-regulation through quality assurance and continuous improvement. The accreditation process is intended to strengthen and sustain the quality and integrity of education, making it worthy of public confidence and minimizing the scope of external control. In order to be deserving of this public trust, accredited institutions must affirm their accreditation in the following ways:

General Expectations:

An accredited institution:
  • Adheres to the Middle States Standards for Accreditation;
  • Uses its mission, beliefs, and goals as the basis for daily decision-making;
  • Operates in the public interest and in accordance with ethical practice;
  • Accepts responsibility for the level of performance of its students;
  • Remains committed to continuous improvement in student learning and to its capacity to produce the levels of learning desired and expected by its community;
  • Operates in a collegial and collaborative way with all its stakeholders; and,
  • Sustains its focus on implementing recommendations, addressing monitoring issues and correcting stipulations that may be part of its notification of accreditation and fulfills its maintenance requirements to the Commission.

Policies of the Middle States Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools