This year, 179 systems are going before the Accreditation Review Council (ARC) and the Kansas State Board of Education to receive an accreditation rating.  

The ARC uses three primary documents when completing its review: the system’s year five report, the Outside Visitation Team’s (OVT) year five report, and the system’s most recent Performance Accountability Report (in this case, 2022). As a reminder, a system’s year five report is due in the authenticated application and to its OVT 30 days prior to the on-site visit. Similarly, the OVT’s report is due in the authenticated application and to the system no later than 30 days after the on-site visit.  

Once all documentation is submitted in the authenticated application, a system's three reports (outlined above) will be sent to the ARC review team. The ARC will then utilize the ARC Criteria as they review a system’s materials and craft its summary and recommendation.    

The Kansas State Department of Education’s (KSDE) Accreditation and Design (AD) team ensures that ARC reviewers have at least two weeks to review a system and craft an executive summary before going before the full ARC for a vote. Note that the closer reports are submitted to the ARC meeting for the next month, the greater the likelihood that a system will not be acted upon until the following month. This will become more likely as the number of systems to review each month increases. Review all ARC meeting dates here.  

Once the ARC has made a recommendation and submitted its report, the AD team will need to edit and finalize the executive summary before sending it to systems. Thus, there will be approximately a one-week turnaround between when the ARC votes and when systems are notified of the recommendation.  

Please make sure that your system’s contact information in the authenticated application is up to date to streamline the communication process. If you have any questions throughout the process, email accreditation@ksde.org.