Applying for candidate status indicates a school community believes it is ready to reflect upon its educational program by entering an intensive Self Study process leading to accreditation. A candidate school has three years to complete a Self Study, host a Visiting Team, and present its documents to the WRISA Board of Directors. If at the end of the three years, the accreditation process has not been completed, it will be necessary for the school to re-apply for candidate status and pay the application fee again.
Before applying for candidacy, please review the Policy and Procedures Handbook, and the WRISA Standards with Quality Indicators found on the WRISA website. Discuss accreditation with your school’s governing board/commission/council, and enlist its support and approval. Review the ‘Pre-accreditation Criteria’ found on pp. 4, 5 and 6. Complete all of the information requested on pp. 2 and 3 of this Application Form. Schools that belong to a WRISA jurisdiction, send the application and payment for the application fee to your jurisdiction’s representative. If you do not know who your WRISA representative is, please contact the WRISA executive director. All other schools send your application directly to the WRISA executive director at P. O. Box 154, Sparta, WI 54656. Once you have assembled all of the documentation for the Pre-accreditation Criteria, contact your representative to schedule an onsite visit. A WRISA representative will visit your school to verify the Pre-accreditation Criteria documentation that you have assemble.