Pre-Assessment Stage

Once your School is formally candidate for accreditation Boston Accreditation will send a invoice for payment of the Pre-Assessment fee. This will be sent onto the Eligibility Committee for review. The Eligibility Committee will confirm whether the accreditation application can progress any further, based on an evaluation against Boston accreditation’s key criteria.

Assessment Stage

The Boston Accreditation will inform your School whether eligibility has been confirmed. Once eligibility is confirmed by the Eligibility Committee, and any necessary pre- assessment visit is complete, the School moves into the Assessment Stage. At this point we will work with you to set dates for the accreditation visit to take place. In most cases the School will need at least three months’ notice to prepare and arrange for the assessment visit. The third and final document, the Self-Audit Report (SAR), will be due for submission three weeks before the assessment visit. This document contains more detailed information about the School and programme and must demonstrate how each of the Boston accreditation criteria are met. It is a lengthy narrative document of approximately 100 pages in length, and is an opportunity for your School to showcase its strengths against the Boston accreditation criteria. Following the accreditation visit from the Boston Accreditation panel, a full invoice for travel, accommodation and subsistence incurred by the panel during the visit will be compiled and submitted to the School. This is known as the Recharges Invoice.

Post-Assessment Stage

Once the accreditation visit is complete the panel will produce a final report, usually within six weeks. During this stage Boston Accreditation welcomes any amendments your School would like to make to the factual parts of the documentation. Please note that it is not possible to change any opinions or analysis in the panel’s report. Once Boston Accreditation has received your feedback the report will be submitted to the IAAB Endorsement Committee who will review the recommendations from the assessment panel and make a final decision.

Re-Accreditation

Schools which have previously been accredited by Boston Accreditation, and who are due for re- accreditation will follow the final two stages of the accreditation process:

• Assessment Stage
• Post-Assessment Stage

Assessment Stage

Boston Accreditation will send your School a reminder between twelve and nine months before your re- accreditation visit is due. You will need to arrange dates for the assessment visit with Boston Accreditation and provide a named point of contact for Boston Accreditation to liaise with. The following documents will be required three weeks before the assessment visit:

• Self-Assessment Form (SAF)
• Self-Audit Report (SAR)

We will provide you with guidance and support when you are completing these documents. Following the accreditation visit from the Boston Accreditation panel, a full invoice for travel, accommodation and subsistence incurred by the panel during the visit will be compiled and submitted to the School. This is known as the Recharges Invoice.

Post-Assessment Stage

Once the assessment visit is complete the panel will produce a final report, usually within six weeks of the date of the accreditation visit. During this stage Boston Accreditation welcomes any amendments your School would like to make to the factual parts of the documentation. Once Boston Accreditation has received your feedback the report will be submitted to the IAAB Endorsement Committee who will review the recommendations from the assessment panel and make a final decision.