In February 2005, the leadership teams from the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI), and National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE) met to discuss ways to further meet their mutual objectives, respond to the future needs of customers, and collectively better serve schools and school districts.

Schools and school districts had communicated an ongoing need for:

The leadership teams of NCA CASI, SACS CASI and NSSE agreed that, by working together as partners, each organization could become stronger, better meet the needs of its clients, and ultimately further advance the shared mission of helping schools and districts improve on behalf of the students they serve. The primary strategic aim of the partnership was to create the next generation of accreditation.

After a year of working together as partners, in April 2006, the NCA CASI, SACS CASI and NSSE came together to form one strong unified organization dedicated to education quality. That unified organization, known as AdvancED, creates the world's largest education community, representing over 23,000 public and private schools, 6,000 school districts, 18,000 volunteers, 162 staff members in 30 states and 65 countries and serving nearly 15 million students.

NCA CASI accredits a range of schools from pre-kindergarten through post-secondary, including: early childhood, elementary, middle, secondary, adult/vocational, college preparatory, special purpose, unit (K-12), and non-degree granting post-secondary schools.

Through accreditation and related services, NCA CASI continuously improves the quality of education and challenges education entities to prepare each and every learner for success.

Founded in 1895, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) is a non-profit, voluntary, non-governmental association, and one of six regional accrediting associations in the United States. SACS CASI serves 11 Southern states - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia as well as Latin America and other geographical areas. SACS CASI accredits over 13,000 Pre-Kindergarten, K-12, and vocational schools.

SACS CASI, in the business of accrediting public and private schools for over 100 years, holds its primary mission as the improvement of education by recognizing and encouraging institutional quality through accreditation.

SACS CASI's Next Generation of Accreditation has provided schools with high standards and objective peer review, while offering the flexibility of choice in school improvement processes, for the ultimate benefit of students.

The National Study of School Evaluation is a non-profit educational research and development organization founded in 1933 by the six regional school accreditation commissions in the United States. The first meeting of the organization, then called the Cooperative Study of Secondary School Standards, focused on essential questions for the school improvement process:

Since that meeting, the goal of developing meaningful answers to these questions continues to drive the work of NSSE.

NSSE now works with more than 30,000 schools - public and private, and kindergarten through grade 12 across the country and abroad. Through its resources, tools, and professional development, NSSE has supported school evaluation and the development of school improvement plans and system-wide improvement plans for more than 70 years.