The Application Process

All interested schools must complete the CESA Application for Membership (currently unavailable). Once the application is completed, the Director of Institutional Review will connect with the school and review the standards with the administrative team. This will help the school understand their ability to seek full membership over the next two years. After this call, the Institutional Review Director will determine approval of the application, and if approved, the school will become a Candidate School.

Candidate status will give the school full rights and privileges of a CESA member school. The school and its faculty may attend CESA-only events and receive the latest research and publications as a CESA member. Once the school’s application has been approved, the school will be invoiced dues annually on July 1st for the upcoming year. If a school applies during the school year, their dues for that year will be prorated.

Candidate schools are strongly encouraged to join the "Candidate School Cohort" meetings in The CESA Collective, during which the CESA Standards will be discussed in detail. Instructions on joining this cohort will be communicated in September of each year.

A Candidate School is one that has committed to completing an on-site Institutional Review, and subsequently submitting a Standards Achievement Plan (SAP) for review by the Board of Directors within the next two years.

Schools must complete all three components of the Institutional Review process within two years unless an extension is granted. If they should fail to complete the process within two years, or if they should fail to receive approval from the Board of Directors, the school will forfeit any fees or dues paid to CESA and will not attain the Member of Council designation.

All Institutional Review components and approval by the Board of Directors are required in full before being considered a Member of Council. Candidate Schools may not promote themselves as being a “CESA School,” “Member of Council”, or any other official or unofficial CESA designation, including the display of the CESA logo or links on the schools’ website.

The purpose of the Institutional Review is to gain a perspective on the institution and where it performs in relation to  CESA Institutional Standards- research-based best practices for Christian schools. The goal of CESA is to enable leaders to lead high-performing Christian institutions that deliver the best education to students across the country.  

As a Candidate School prepares for the Institutional Review Visit, the Head of School should lead a team in the preparation of a report based upon the CESA Institutional Standards.  The Head of School must take primary responsibility for this report and the discussion of the standards with his or her team and sign off on the final report prior to submitting it to CESA. This report will be sent to the Director of Reviews a minimum of 60 days prior to the visit.  The Director of Reviews will then schedule a call with the Head of School to discuss each of the primary standards.

In responding to the Standards, with both a narrative and necessary documentation, schools should be reminded that in order to receive accreditation and Member of Council Status, 100% of primary and 80% of secondary standards must be met.

The Institutional Review Visit will include a team of four individuals. The team will be composed of the Institutional Review Director and/or the Executive Director of CESA, 1 or 2 heads of school, as well as an expert in independent school academics. The Institutional Review Visit will give an opportunity for the school to better understand the main areas of success as well as improvement, hopefully resulting in membership of CESA. At the end of the Visit, the team will present the findings in-person to the head of school, followed by a written report.  The School will then have 60 days to respond to the report with a Standards Achievement Plan.  The Director of Reviews and Executive Director will then make a recommendation to the Executive Committee of the Board for approval or denial of accreditation and Member of Council status. 

The decision of the Executive Committee of the Board may be appealed in writing by the head of school, referencing specific area(s) in which the school was found deficient. The Executive Committee of the Board will review the original review board’s findings and the head of school’s appeal letter. The school’s accreditation status will remain unchanged during an appeals process. The judgment of the Executive Committee of the Board is final.

All visits and questions about Reviews should be directed to Jim Marsh, Director of Reviews ([email protected])

**Note: The CESA Institutional Review may be scheduled to coordinate with an accreditation process of another accrediting organization, if appropriate. Additionally, schools may obtain AdvancED accreditation by passing the CESA Institutional Review process (no AdvancEd team will visit, only the CESA team).  This is a joint accreditation and schools will become a CESA Member of Council and receive COGNIA accreditation.  While this step is not required, it is an option for schools interested in AdvancEd accreditation.

After the Visit, the school will have 60 days to provide their School Achievement Plan report to the CESA Institutional Review Director, Jim Marsh.

A template for the SAP can be found here.  After the SAP is submitted, CESA will regularly follow-up with the leadership team to provide support in continuous improvement.  We desire that this is a dynamic process, and we hope to support schools in whatever way needed, including connecting schools with their peers in Member of Council schools who may be able to provide targeted support.