Accreditation & Membership Glossary
Accreditation bodies evaluate a school's quality on a recurring basis; membership organisations are professional or activity networks a school belongs to. The two aren't the same thing, even though schools tend to list them together.
Accreditation bodies
CIS
A global membership and accreditation body for international education. CIS accreditation involves a recurring, in-depth evaluation of teaching quality, governance and student wellbeing - not a one-off certificate.
WASC
One of six regional accrediting bodies in the United States. Commonly held by schools following an American-style curriculum, including outside the US.
NEASC
Founded in 1885, one of the oldest US regional accreditors. Also commonly held alongside American-curriculum programmes abroad.
Cognia
A US non-profit that accredits primary and secondary schools both domestically and internationally. AdvancED merged into Cognia in 2020, so older school materials may still reference the AdvancED name.
IB World School
A school authorised to teach one or more IB programmes (PYP, MYP, DP). Authorisation itself is a rigorous, ongoing process specific to each programme a school offers - it isn't a single blanket accreditation.
NCCT
An agency affiliated with China's Ministry of Education. Relevant to schools that teach some or all of the Chinese national curriculum alongside an international programme.
Membership organisations
EARCOS
A professional network of English-medium schools across East Asia, focused on teacher training and cross-school collaboration - not an accreditor.
ACAMIS
A regional network of 50+ international schools, best known for inter-school sports and academic competitions.
COBIS
A UK-based membership association for British-curriculum schools operating outside the UK.
APAC
An extracurricular sports and activities league of around a dozen international schools across Asia.
A school's own accreditation is listed on its profile page where published.