Accreditation is a three-year certification process centered on an in-depth self-study of all aspects of the school. TBS is pursuing simultaneous accreditation through two bodies, the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). CAIS offers the leading accreditation available for pre-Kindergarten through grade 12 independent schools in California. WASC provides accreditation to thousands of schools in the western United States – from elementary schools to college.

Together, WASC and CAIS accreditations will support the teaching and learning happening in our classrooms; provide access to important professional development opportunities; and strengthen our organizational practices. The great benefit of accreditation is going through the rigorous self-study itself. We’ll be asked to do a substantial examination of our philosophy and mission, governance, finances, site and plant, educational program, and all other aspects the school.

After hosting visiting committees from both organizations in late 2010, TBS received initial accreditation from WASC, and provisional accreditation from CAIS, in January, 2011. We are pleased to announce that we will participate as beta-testers during the 2012-13 school year for the revised accreditation protocol that CAIS/WASC is planning to roll out to all schools in 2014-15. In the fall of 2012, we’ll go through administrative trainings, and from January-June of 2013 we will conduct the full self-study. We’ll host the full accreditation visit sometime in the fall of 2013, and receive notice about our term of accreditation in the spring of 2014.

TBS community members can learn more about the process at the password-protected Accreditation Hub: http://www.theberkeleyschoolaccreditation.org.