NEASC Accreditation Portal

NEASC Accreditation Portal

Quick Reference Guide

The information provided on this page is a general introduction to the NEASC Accreditation Portal. For specific instructions related to your school's visit, or if you a member of a Visiting Team, please refer to information provided by your NEASC Commission staff liaison. Thank you.

Login

Please use the credentials provided by NEASC for your initial login to the Accreditation Portal. If you do not have your username or password, please contact your commission support staff.

Editing Your Login Information

After your initial login, you can personalize your password by clicking on the blue “Edit Login Information” button (top right).

Dashboard

After you login, the first screen that you will see is your DASHBOARD. Here you will see a list including your home school, the school(s) with which you will be working, and your assigned role(s) for each.

Report Access

To access a school’s accreditation report, click on the EDIT button next to the school name in your DASHBOARD list. You will be taken to the report landing page (i.e., REPORT HOME).

Report responses, comments, and evidence will be accessed, reviewed and edited through the Report Home page. The names and contact information for heads of schools, school accreditation coordinators, and visiting team members will also be found here.

If you are viewing your own school’s report, the Report Home will be labeled “My Report” or “My Self-Study” and display your school’s visit and profile summary and self-assessment content.

If you are viewing a report as a team member or chair, you will be able to view a linked copy of the school’s self-assessment report, the school’s visit and profile summary, and the report content generated by the Visiting Team.

Navigation

The following are example navigation choices which - depending on which NEASC Commission you are working with and your role - may be found in the top menu bar throughout the portal: 
 

  • Dashboard: returns to your Dashboard View (the initial login landing page)
     
  • Report Home: returns to the landing page for the report you are working on (for both Visiting Team view and school view)
     
  • Guides / Resources: links to instructional documents
     
  • Chair Page / Resources: links to help files specific for Visiting Team Chairs
     
  • Comments / Help / Contact us: email link for specific questions or personalized help

Enter/Edit Responses

To enter your responses or edit a section of a school’s accreditation report that has already been added, click the “Open” button next to the report you would like to work on.

If there is a long list of Standards, Indicators or Learning Principles to review, you may have to click on an arrow (top right) to reveal a drop down menu of all the report sections.

Important - Report/Data Confidentiality

Your access to each school’s information is dependent on your assigned role: Head of School, Self-Study Committee Member, Accreditation Coordinator, Visiting Team Chair, or Visiting Team Member. The only other people with access to the information entered into the reports stored on the portal are NEASC staff members and other individuals to which a school has requested NEASC give access.

Enter/Format Text

In all sections of the Portal, the text entry screen looks the same and has the same features. 

Formatting options in the Portal are as follows: 

  • Headings: change the header sizes
     
  • Inline: Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Superscript, Subscript, Code
     
  • Blocks: Paragraph, Blockquote, Div, Pre
     
  • Alignment: Left, Center, Right, Justify
     
  • Justifications: Left, Center, Right, Justify
     
  • Lists: Bulleted or Numbered
     
  • Font color
     
  • Background color 
     
  • Source Code, Insert/Edit Links, Insert/Edit Tables
     
  • Increase Indent, Decrease Indent
     

NOTE:
You may choose to copy and paste content from other text-editing software (for example, Word or GoogleDocs). The Portal will preserve most of your original formatting, but please be aware that you may still have to clean up your text. In some cases, composing directly in the Portal may be easier.

File Library

In many sections of a report, a File Library will be accessible. This feature provides an opportunity to upload documents and artifacts that directly support the statements you have entered into your report. Keep in mind that the evidence you provide should be your best evidence and does not need to be exhaustive.

Currently there is no limit to the size or number of files you can upload. Acceptable file formats include PDF, Word, Excel, image and video files. Certain types of executable files are not permitted.

In Firefox, you can either drag files into the appropriate File Library or use the “Add Files” button. In other browsers, you typically must use the Add Files button.

NOTE:
Very large files will take a long time to upload – and will take your team a long time to download. If you are working with video files (which tend to be large, especially if uncompressed), you may wish to upload your source file to a video site such as YouTube or Vimeo and then paste the link in the body of the response box.
 

Important - Sensitive School Documents

No Personally Identifiable Information or Sensitive Personal Data should be included in report content, or any uploaded supporting documents submitted to the SAIS-hosted portal.

Personally Identifiable Information, or PII, includes a first and last name in combination with a Social Security number, state identification number, financial account number, taxpayer identification number, medical information, health insurance policy number, among other information as defined by applicable laws. Sensitive Personal Data includes a first and last name in combination with a national identification number, passport number, medical information, among other information that is defined as Sensitive Personal Data under applicable laws.

Further, any sensitive or confidential, non-publicly available information, including financial audits or similar information, should not be submitted to or uploaded to the SAIS-hosted portal. You may opt to share certain information or documents directly with visiting teams while they are on their visit in lieu of uploading to the SAIS-hosted portal.

Collaboration

Multiple people can add content to the portal simultaneously; however, no more than one person can edit a single section at one time. For example, if there are five Indicators for a particular Standard, five different people could work on a different Indicator at the same time. You will know a section is available for editing when the button next to it on the report landing page displays “Open”.

If a button displays “Closed”, that section has been marked “complete” by the Team Chair and is no longer available for editing.

If a section is open, but someone else is actively editing that section, an alert message will be displayed.

Marking Sections "Complete"

“Mark-Complete” is an internal portal tool for indicating to other team members which sections of a report are finished. Many schools and Visiting Teams have found this tool to be very helpful.

To mark a section as completed, go to the REPORT HOME, find the section you wish to close, and click the “Mark Complete” button next to it. Anyone with access to the report will see the status change.

It should be noted that anyone can mark a section complete; however, only a Team Chair can re-open it for further editing.

Saving Your Work

Please remember to save your work often while working in the Portal. It is good practice to regularly click the 'Save All Responses' button! 

Portal content is also backed up on a regular basis. If for some reason you need to restore work from an archived version, click on the “View archived versions” link and copy and paste the necessary content.

The School View

If you are viewing your own school’s report, the Report Home will be labeled “My Report” or “My Self-Study” and display your school’s profile summary and self-assessment content. You will see the scheduled visit dates, buttons to view the report in HTML or as a PDF, school and Visiting Team contact information, and a list of buttons to access each section of the report to which you have been assigned. Report sections and categories will vary by Commission. Speak to the head of your school or accreditation coordinator if a report section you should have access to does not appear. Other information displayed may include maps, visit schedules and team accommodations.

NOTE:
A School/Community Summary is provided to acquaint the Visiting Team with the school.

The Team View

If you are viewing a report as a team member or chair, you will be able to view a linked copy of the school’s self-assessment report, the school’s visit and profile summary, and the report content generated by the Visiting Team.

Access the report for the school to which you have been assigned from the DASHBOARD page.

On each school report landing page you will see the visit dates, buttons to view the compiled Visiting Team Report in HTML or as a PDF, and a list of buttons to access each section of the report which you will edit. You will also have access to a PDF of the full self-assessment report submitted by the school under the “Self-Study” or “School Overview & Accreditation Report” section.

Submitting Reports: School

Prior to the accreditation visit, your home school’s self-assessment report must be complete – including school profile summaries and all responses to Standards/Principles. At this point, the school should click the “Mark Report Complete” or “Submit Report” button (found on the REPORT HOME page). Once this button is clicked, your Visiting Team Chair will be alerted that all of your materials are in their final form. 

NOTE REGARDING PRE-VISITS:
Your Visiting Team Chair has access to your reports, so you don't need to mark your report complete at the time of a Pre-Visit; however, your responses to Standards/Principles should be in near final form. 

Submitting Reports: Visiting Team

Soon after the conclusion of the visit, when all sections of your report are finished and the team has had an opportunity to proof for consistency, language, content, etc., the CHAIR of the team should click the “Submit For Final Review” button next to the school’s name on the DASHBOARD page or on the REPORT HOME page. Once you click this button, NEASC staff members will be alerted that your report has been submitted. After this point, NEASC will facilitate final review of the report and follow the procedures established for each Commission.  

NOTE:
After a report is submitted (both school and Visiting Team reports), it is locked for editing.
Contact NEASC if you need to edit your report further. 

Important - Visiting Team Confidentiality

The Visiting Team deliberations and the final report are confidential. Once the Visiting Team accepts the final Visit Report, the report belongs to the school and the school determines how to share it with its stakeholder community.

Control Panels: School Heads and Coordinators

If you are a Head of School or Accreditation/Self-Study Coordinator, you will have access to the Control Panel. The button will appear on your school’s REPORT HOME page. Using this tool, you can manage individual users’ access to your school’s accreditation self-assessment report. You can grant permission to view/edit the full report or sections of the report to different people as needed.

If a user is not assigned to a section of a report, that section will not appear when they log in – but they will still be able to see the compiled report by using the “Print HTML / PDF” buttons. 

Control Panels: Visiting Team Chairs

A Visiting Team Chair also has access to the Control Panel and can assign sections of a school report to team members. If a team member is not assigned to a section of the report, that section will not appear when they log in – but they will still be able to see the compiled report by using the “Print Visiting Team Report” button.