"The mission of the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools is to advance excellence in education through the process of accreditation. Accreditation promotes continual school improvement leading to greater student achievement."

• -Accredited schools are members of one of the nation’s six regional accreditation associations.
• -Accredited schools must meet rigorous standards and report progress on an annual basis.
• -Accreditation promotes self-regulation by requiring schools to participate in an ongoing school improvement process.
• -Accredited schools assure the public the accountability for their tax dollars.
• -Regional accreditation provides a vehicle to meet state accountability laws and NCLB.
• -Regional accreditation protocols help schools collect and analyze the same data that is needed for these state and federal laws.
• -Regional accreditation external reviews help schools stay on track and focused on improving student performance.
• -Regional accreditation helps schools use multiple measures to gauge student progress.
• -Accreditation provides self-regulation.
• -Regional Accreditation provides the structure and tools to align multiple assessments with curriculum and staff development.
• -The regional accreditation process is teacher driven.
• -Regional accreditation is the education profession’s method of self-evaluation and quality assurance.
• -Accreditation is bottom up instead of top down.
• -Regional accreditation adds value within a local community as its schools are recognized for meeting high standards.
• -It’s simple really; state and federal laws tell schools what while NAAS shows schools how.
• -Students are assured that credits are earned in an accredited school.
• -Credits earned in a regionally accredited institution are accepted by all other NAAS schools.

• Spanish Springs High School participated in the accreditation process for the 2010/2011 school year with successful results. See below for details.
• NWAC Statement
• SSHS 2010/2011 Accreditation Annual Report
• SSHS Accreditation 5 Year Plan
• SSHS Accreditation Visitation Team Report