The Kansas State Department of Education would like to remind all systems in their fifth year of the Kansas Education Systems Accreditation (KESA) cycle that they must email accreditation@ksde.org with the date of their annual on-site visit as soon as possible. 

The last date you can have your accreditation visit as a year five system is March 31, 2023. Systems in years one through four must have their accreditation visit before April 30, 2023. 

System yearly summaries should be submitted to Outside Visitation Teams (OVT) and entered in the authenticated application 30 days prior to on-site visits. After the visit, the OVT must submit its report in the authenticated application within 30 days. 

For systems in year five, here is a sample of what to expect regarding the accreditation timeline, starting with the completion of the system yearly summary and ending with a final accreditation determination: 

• System writes year five report, uploads to application and shares with OVT: Dec. 12. 
• OVT visit: Jan. 12, 2023. 
• OVT report submitted in authenticated application: Feb. 12, 2023. 
• Materials to Accreditation Review Council (ARC): March 12, 2023. 
• Kansas State Board of Education receives recommendation: April 12, 2023. 
• State Board of Education acts: May 12, 2023. 

The accreditation process from start to finish is a multi-month process and requires the collaboration of multiple stakeholders. However, the review process for a system can’t start until the OVT report is submitted. KSDE’s Accreditation and Design team tracks that by logging the date of the OVT visit. Thus, it is critical that year five systems let KSDE know the date of their visit so that KSDE can organize the ARC for reviews in a timely manner. 

For more information, email Sarah Perryman, Accreditation and Design coordinator, at sperryman@ksde.org.