For more than a century, regional accreditation served as a seal of approval, indicating that schools (and, more recently, systems) met standards of quality and continuous improvement. Institutions were recognized through the third-party accreditation review process as accredited or not accredited. Most of the time, school performance is more nuanced.
This year, Cognia will identify actual levels of school quality that factor performance more heavily, acknowledging the extent to which a school or district has excelled in the accreditation process with “distinction” or “merit” or has shown they have more room to improve with the designation of “accredited” or “accredited in need of improvement.”
The changes are designed to more accurately reflect a school or system’s quality as demonstrated during their Cognia Accreditation Engagement Review and indicate how well institutions are performing on our research-based performance standards that include a standard for learner growth in academic performance on valid and reliable student assessments. The new statuses will also help identify the areas of improvement schools need to focus on to advance student performance. Not least, it will provide an incentive for institutions to raise their performance to the next level. Levels of performance can also create healthy competition to reach for higher achievement.
Research in psychology, organizational behavior, and education policy recognizes that people and institutions are more likely to improve their performance if they know their status, what they need to do to improve, and if they have actionable insights.
The new delineation of accreditation status is intended to both recognize exceptional performance among institutions and to encourage stretch goals of continuous improvement. Every organization will know where it stands, and the accreditation process will help demonstrate the institution’s strengths and weaknesses and provide a guide for improvement.
The new delineation of accreditation status is intended to both recognize exceptional performance among institutions and to encourage stretch goals of continuous improvement.
We believe schools identified as accredited in need of improvement, accredited, and accredited with merit will work that much harder to attain the next level of performance. Those schools and systems identified as accredited with distinction will work to maintain their place and continue to focus on student growth and raise achievement.
How will this work?
Beginning this year, at the time of each institution’s accreditation engagement review, Cognia will report to our member institutions the specific accreditation status of each school or system. School and system performance will be based on what has traditionally been used—school and system results on Cognia’s Index of Education Quality® (IEQ) measure (which rates schools across all 31 standards on a 1-4 scale) and the results of evidence gathered during engagement reviews.
Rather than simply labelling schools as being “accredited,” i.e., meeting or exceeding standards, a school or system can achieve one of four different statuses.
| Accreditation Status | Definition | IEQ Score |
| Accredited with Distinction | A status indicating that a school or district exceeds expectations in a substantial number of standards and criteria, has exemplary student performance results in multiple curricular areas, and has earned in the highest range for their IEQ score. | 360 to 400 |
| Accredited with Merit | A status indicating that a school or system meets or exceeds most standards and criteria and demonstrates high student performance results in one or more curricular areas, earning an IEQ score above expectations. | 320 to 359 |
| Accredited | A status indicating that an institution or system is in good standing based on the most recent Accreditation Engagement Review, meets all or a substantial number of standards and criteria, has documented student performance results that are average, and has an IEQ score that falls within an acceptable range. | 280 to 319 |
| Accredited Needing Improvement | A status indicating that an institution is in fair standing and meets some key standards but falls below several others, has limited, documented, or poor student performance results, earning an IEQ score that falls slightly below expectations. | 240 to 279 |
All schools and systems, no matter their level of performance, will be required to improve in areas where they fall short of standards. However, those schools and systems completing the process in the lowest performance tiers will be monitored more frequently and have greater support from Cognia and/or their state.
There are cases where support needs to be more intensive and requires ongoing check-ins, coaching on how to lead improvement, and facilitation to execute changes schools and systems need to make. The goal is to ensure that no school or district remains static in performance and can have the support it needs to continue its journey toward distinctive performance.
Cognia places greater emphasis on student achievement growth
In addition, while Cognia has always used student achievement data as crucial subjective evidence in determining whether schools or districts should be accredited, beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, Cognia will factor in direct, objective evidence of student growth as evidenced by performance on valid assessments as a factor in determining accreditation status.
While we always leveraged assessment over time as a measure of school quality. Cognia has introduced a new standard, under Key Characteristic 4: Growth in Learning, that focuses on student performance on assessments. Schools are already required to administer balanced assessments for academic performance, and now, schools are required to demonstrate growth in student academic performance based on valid and reliable assessments.
Balanced assessments provide end-of-year results to measure overall school performance, but they also include interval assessments that help teachers adjust and individualize their practice, which is the key to overall school performance.
The focus on growth serves multiple purposes. It recognizes schools and systems that are raising performance. In addition, the change will benefit state officials by reducing the number of outlier institutions that accrediting agencies recognize for making needed progress but do so without demonstrating academic achievement. The change amplifies the message that every school can improve and that student growth in learning is important, whether it is a high-performing or a low-performing school.
The change amplifies the message that every school can improve and that student growth in learning is important, whether it is a high-performing or a low-performing school.
The standards focused on achievement and growth will allow Cognia to compare data among schools, states, and countries and study how changes in school and district policy and practice result in academic improvement for students. For example, Cognia can use assessment scores to evaluate what practices and policies are working to help increase growth and raise achievement by school and district types, demographics, and school communities.
We anticipate that these changes will enable us to gather insights and conduct research to better inform educators as well as state, district, and school leaders about what works in schools and districts like theirs as well as helping accelerate school improvement and sustaining it over time.
© Cognia Inc.
This article may be republished or reproduced in accordance with The Source Copyright Policy.
The information in this article is given to the reader with the understanding that neither the author nor Cognia is in engaged in rendering any legal or business advice to the user or general public. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Cognia, the author’s employer, organization, or other group or individual.
