- Achieve recognition for excellence in special education based on expert peer review
- Improve services through adherence to national standards of best practice
- Demonstrate high quality of programs to students, families, referral sources, funders, and other stakeholders
- Establish agency improvement goals for your agency
NCASES provides a voluntary accreditation process that effectively and systematically evaluates private special education and adult learning programs. The entire process welcomes diversity of educational practice and innovation and recognizes the importance of evaluating services to meet student/client needs.
Accreditation is based on a self study of compliance to fifty standards covering the range of processes, procedures, and practices critical to the functioning of a special education setting. After submitting the self study, applicant agencies undergo a comprehensive site-review performed by a highly trained team of experts in the field of special education.
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Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible to apply for accreditation or re-accreditation, the following criteria must be met by the agency and/or its programs seeking accreditation:
- The applicant provides special educational services to individuals with disabilities.
- The applicant provides services within clearly defined, identifiable program(s).
- The applicant provides services using directly employed and paid staff. The use of contractors is allowable as long as the applicant also employs its own staff.
- The applicant has been in existence for two years prior to application unless the agency overseeing the applicant has another currently NCASES accredited school/program.
- The applicant has approval/licensure in good standing from state regulatory bodies in states where such approval/licensure is required. A finding of organizational criminal negligence or liability resulting in the revocation of regulatory approval to operate the program will result in revocation of accreditation and ineligibility to seek accreditation until such time as regulatory approval is reinstated.
- An agency may be accredited in its entirety or may elect to accredit one or more clearly identifiable internal programs, in the case of a multiprogram agency.
Note: Nonprofit and for-profit agencies are eligible for accreditation.
Accreditation Fees
- Application Fee: $250 (nonrefundable)
- Accreditation Fee:
Residential Programs: $4,000
Non-Residential Programs: $2,500
Additional Site Applications: $1,000 per site
- Applicant is responsible for paying travel expenses incurred by the Site Review Team during the site visit.
