Purposes

The Accrediting Commission for Community and Precollegiate Arts Schools (ACCPAS) was founded in 2000 for the following purposes:

• To provide voluntary accreditation services for community and pre-collegiate schools emphasizing arts study;
• To support those institutions and their programs in the arts disciplines in their quests for educational excellence; and
• When appropriate, to connect the development of artistry and intellect from the early years through higher education.

The work of ACCPAS is intended to support artistic and academic excellence with:

1. Threshold standards that define the fundamentals of quality and thus Threshold standards that define the fundamentals of quality and thus provide a framework supporting specific institutional and programmatic purposes.
2. Review procedures that evaluate relationships among purposes, curricula and programs in the arts disciplines, capabilities, aspirations, and resources, all in the context of each school’s mission and achievements.
3. A philosophy that promotes creativity in the definition, pursuit, and evaluation of artistic and academic quality.
4. Services that enhance the ability of schools to analyze themselves for purposes of improvement.