Dr Sudha Govindswamy, CIS Associate Director, School Support & Evaluation

 

 

Have you ever wondered: who accredits the accreditors?

Our own story of accreditation is one of intentional progress towards a futures-oriented framework and contextually-driven process that fosters socially responsible learning communities.

Here, we share the story of our own evaluation process and how we thoughtfully curated evidence from multiple stakeholder perspectives about our effectiveness and impact as accreditors.

Similar to school evaluations, constructive reflections were provided by peer evaluators and leaders of other accrediting associations who served on our review team. They added depth and critical insights on how we, at CIS, walk-the-talk in becoming the leading, globally recognized international accreditation body that we are. 

Who accredits CIS?

We’re accredited by the International Council Advancing Independent School Accreditation (ICAISA), an overarching professional association which “accredits the accreditors”.

We’re a member of ICAISA to influence and improve the accreditation of independent schools while submitting to the evaluation and validation of the quality of our own accreditation process.

We voluntarily submit to a rigorous, impartial review of our accreditation protocol to demonstrate adherence to the ICAISA Criteria for Effective Independent School Accreditation Practices.

Initial planning & piloting of a new ICAISA interim review process

We piloted ICAISA’s interim review process, conducted during the first half of 2025.  

To prepare, we worked with ICAISA to put specific expectations, guidelines, and parameters in place to address three core questions:

1. What were the major recommendations from the previous report?
2. What action did we take as a result of those recommendations?
3. What has been the impact of these changes?  

This placed emphasis on demonstrating progress and impact through a developmental approach.

We addressed compliance early in the process by doing a rigorous crosswalk between our CIS International Accreditation standards and ICAISA Core Standards.

We also submitted a detailed strategic plan confirming our strategic intent.

Doing this early ensured that evaluators could focus on our response to the recommendations made during our last review and engage in reflective dialogue during the interim review process.

 

Key findings, commendations, & recommendations

 

 

Recognition of our CIS accreditation programmes

We were commended for bringing ICAISA’s six essential commitments to life through our systematic, supportive, and differentiated accreditation programmes for schools in 121 countries.

The Review Team observed clear evidence of a comprehensive system of quality assurance understood and appreciated by schools seeking accreditation through a peer review process.

Quick highlights: Strengths of CIS International Accreditation

Strategic thinking & organizational focus

Strategic thinking is a core strength of our organization, with significant attention devoted to selecting focus areas and priorities that guide our team’s efforts each year.

Our approach to data collection and the assessment of educational capital’s effectiveness are highly regarded, as is the work undertaken to raise our profile with national education systems, for example, in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Peer-review & feedback systems

The ICAISA team noted and commended our CIS International Accreditation model being clearly rooted in a peer-review system that uses self-study and on-site visits to triangulate each school’s accreditation status.

Our robust training programme for peer-review visitors, several layers of quality assurance, and ongoing monitoring and support for schools provided by International Accreditation Advisers were praised too.

Voice & choice

Schools are given voice and choice in the preparatory and post-visit stages, enabling opportunities for feedback. Additionally, we systematically analyse trends and feedback to ensure our accreditation processes are continuously improving.

Accreditation as a process for improvement

It became evident throughout the accreditation visits that we lead in using accreditation not as a mere compliance checklist, but as a dynamic, collaborative process focused on school improvement.

Conversations with school heads, evaluators, staff, and board members consistently revealed a shared understanding and enthusiasm for an accreditation process that prioritises engagement and school development over inspection or compliance.

Continuous evolution & quality assurance

The evolution of our accreditation approach to meet the needs of international schools, demonstrates our commitment to maintaining high standards.

We achieve this through a rigorous training programme for peer evaluators, ensuring a balance between quality control and continuous improvement.

The deployment of School Support and Evaluation Officers (SSEOs) has been particularly well received, serving as critical friends and thought partners who integrate accreditation with professional development and help realise the essential commitments.

Collaborative & developmental frameworks

Heads of school have reported that the collaborative and developmental nature of our new accreditation framework and protocol have enabled them to gain a comprehensive understanding of the contents of their accreditation report before the visiting team departs from campus.

This is achieved through a day of intensive work alongside visiting team members, during which targets and key performance indicators (KPIs) are identified and the contents of the forthcoming report are discussed in detail.

Human-centred approach & relationships

As an organization, we demonstrate a thoughtful process, disciplined work, resilient systems, well-considered strategy, effective leadership, and professional governance.

Importantly, our accreditation system is fundamentally human-centred and places relationships at the forefront.

Many of our CIS Global Team collaborate to achieve both tactical and strategic objectives.

Member schools have emphasised the positive relationships established by our team, underlining the value of the human element in their interactions with the organization.

 

Conclusion: Our learning story

We are very proud of the ICAISA Interim Review Team's conclusions: CIS is a relationship-driven, systems-based, human-centred, agile learning organization with a clear goal and direction.

Many of our team collaborate to achieve tactical and strategic goals, and schools emphasized the positive relationships they have formed with our global team, noting the importance of the human side of their interaction with our organization.

 

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Key questions this blog answers:

• Who accredits CIS? How is CIS accredited?
• How does CIS ensure quality in its accreditation process?
• What makes CIS accreditation different?
• What are the strengths of CIS accreditation?