NWAIS Reaccreditation

The McGillis School is a member of NWAIS, the Northwest Association of Independent Schools.  NWAIS is a nonprofit membership organization that provides accreditation, professional development, and support services to over 110 schools in the pacific northwest  (Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming).

NWAIS schools embrace their independence; they determine their own missions and philosophies, select their faculty and students, and develop their curricula. NWAIS has core values and essential characteristics.

NWAIS accreditation offers assurance of quality education and accountability for families and provides value due to the thoroughness of the process. Accreditation assesses a school’s effectiveness in delivering on the promise of its mission, advances mission-driven initiatives, and helps to ensure the school’s future capacity. NWAIS accreditation is recognized by other agencies, regionally and nationally.

Accreditation provides families reassurance that The McGillis School is delivering on its mission and providing an enriching and safe learning environment for students. Families can be confident that the School is consistently working to provide a unique experience for your children both now and in the years ahead.

No; schools choose to undergo the rigorous process of NWAIS accreditation process; they are not required by law to be accredited. The accreditation process is a tool for ongoing improvement. It’s an inclusive and collaborative process which requires schools to reflect on their mission and consider how well they’re delivering on the mission, and to identify their areas of strength and areas for growth. NWAIS has 13 accreditation standards which cover the range of operations, systems, facilities, and all aspects of a program at a school. The opportunity to gather and reflect collectively on these standards is invaluable.

NWAIS has an eight-year accreditation cycle which begins with the school’s staff and community reflecting and collaborating to write a Self-Study. The Self Study articulates how the School fulfills its mission, provides students with quality programs, and is both viable and sustainable. A team of educators from other independent schools visits the school to see how well the Self Study document reflects what is actually happening at the school. The visiting team writes a report that is then presented to the NWAIS Accreditation Committee, which makes a recommendation to the NWAIS Board of Governors about the school’s accreditation status.

McGillis last went through the self-study process in 2013-2014 and hosted an accreditation visit in the fall of 2014.  We had planned to start the self-study process again in 2021, but due to COVID, we pushed this out to 2022. In the spring of 2022, the School announced a new position, Director of Academic Affairs, filled by Melinda Kaufman, which would lead our NWAIS accreditation among other responsibilities. We launched our Self Study in the fall of 2022 and are planning for an accreditation visit in the fall of 2023.

Faculty and staff are busily engaged in the Self Study process, having conversations, and asking questions to reflect on what we’re doing and how we’re meeting the School’s Mission. We plan to survey the broader community early next year to gather input and feedback on various aspects of the School’s operations and program.

We will share the visiting team’s report which will include commendations, recommendations and suggestions based on what they observe during their accreditation visit

in the fall of 2023.