In 2023, Boundless Life Education Centers embarked on an exciting and comprehensive journey to achieve accreditation through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
WASC is a globally recognized accrediting body that partners with schools to foster continuous improvement, enhance educational quality, and ensure students are thriving!
This accreditation effort is more than a checkbox – it’s a commitment to high standards, consistent quality across all our international locations, and an ongoing process of growth and refinement.
A Rigorous Process
The WASC accreditation process is known for its thoroughness and emphasis on continuous improvement over compliance. Rather than simply checking off requirements, WASC evaluators work closely with schools in a partnership to help them improve in every area of operation – from curriculum and teaching practices to student welfare and operational systems.
This means that when WASC visits a Boundless Education Center, they aren’t just ensuring we meet standards on paper; they are looking for evidence that our policies and programs are effective and benefiting students in real, tangible ways. The process is multi-year and iterative, involving self-assessment, external reviews, and continuous feedback.
We view the accreditation team as mentors. Their visits and reports highlight areas for improvement – and we’ve embraced those recommendations enthusiastically. This focus on growth has helped us solidify our policies and systems across all locations, bringing a “red thread” of consistency to our globally distributed Education Centers.
By engaging with WASC, we ensure that every Boundless Life destination upholds the same high standards and ethos. Ultimately, the rigor of WASC gives Boundless Life an external stamp of quality, but more importantly, it fuels our internal drive for excellence in everything we do.
Early Milestones: Achieving Candidacy Across Multiple Countries
Boundless Life began the WASC accreditation journey in early 2023, and our efforts quickly led to significant milestones. After months of preparation and an initial self-assessment, we submitted our first formal application in June 2024. This was followed by WASC initial visits to four Boundless Life destinations – Tuscany (Italy), Syros (Greece), Sintra (Portugal), and Bali (Indonesia), where representatives spent time at each site evaluating our programs and processes.
The result – Boundless Life was granted candidacy status on the very first visit to all four sites. This early achievement is exceptionally rare and a testament to the quality of the systems and curriculum we have in place.
It’s even more notable because Boundless Life is attempting something unprecedented and unique, as the first international education program pursuing WASC accreditation across multiple countries simultaneously.
Our innovative education model attracted WASC’s interest and, admittedly, required them to adapt their process as well – accrediting a multi-country “system” is new territory for everyone involved. The complexity of this approach means the accreditation timeline is a bit longer and more involved, but it also underscores how pioneering Boundless Life’s approach to global education truly is.
Stakeholder Engagement: A Community Effort
Accreditation isn’t a top-down administrative task – it involves the whole Boundless community. From the beginning, Boundless Life has sought to include parents, staff, and even students in our WASC journey. This inclusivity ensures that the accreditation reflects a 360-degree view of our schools and that everyone has a voice in our continuous improvement.
One of the key phases of WASC accreditation is the self-study, where the school evaluates itself against accreditation criteria. As Boundless Life moves into the full self-study phase, input from all stakeholders becomes crucial. Parents are invited to share their experiences and expectations, educators and staff collaborate on reviewing our curriculum and operations, and students can offer perspective on their learning experience.
This collective reflection is valuable not just for meeting WASC requirements, but for strengthening our community.
- When parents and teachers sit together to assess how we’re doing, it builds mutual understanding and trust.
- For staff, the accreditation journey has encouraged a culture of open communication and collaboration. Educators and administrators are working together to document our educational practices and analyze what’s working well or what could improve.
All of these voices matter. By highlighting stakeholder involvement, Boundless Life is showing WASC that we’re a learning community continually reflecting and growing together.
Leadership and Organizational Commitment
The extensive accreditation effort at Boundless Life reflects our team's deep commitment to educational excellence. Leading this multi-country accreditation is a complex task, requiring careful coordination and consistent effort across all locations.
In my role overseeing the WASC accreditation process and expansion efforts I draw upon decades of international experience in the education sector, to ensure each recommendation is implemented. This newly appointed role reflects Boundless Life's dedication to aligning our unique educational approach with internationally recognized standards, without losing sight of the special qualities that define our program.
Our collective goal is to maintain continuity, expertise, and continuous improvement across every Boundless Life destination, reinforcing our promise to families worldwide.
Latest Updates: June 2024 Visit and Next Steps
The WASC journey is ongoing, and we’ve hit some exciting checkpoints recently. In June 2024, WASC evaluators visited our Andalusia, Spain Education Center – this was the first WASC review for that location.
The WASC team noted substantial progress in Boundless Life’s development. They saw first-hand the immediate improvements we implemented and how these changes positively impacted the educational environment. The success of the Andalusia visit effectively reinforced our candidacy status and set the stage for moving into the next official phase of accreditation.
The next big phase is the full self-study, during which Boundless Life will conduct an in-depth evaluation of all aspects of our program across every location. This is a comprehensive process where we collect evidence, reflect on our practices, and measure our effectiveness against WASC’s criteria. Areas of focus will include curriculum quality, teaching and learning, student achievement, support services, governance, and more.
Essentially, we will be asking ourselves:
- How well are we doing?
- How do we know?
- What can we improve?
Each Education Center will contribute to this study, and the result will be a thorough report that we present to WASC. It’s a lot of work, but it’s incredibly valuable – it’s like doing a deep diagnostic of our entire organization with guidance from the accrediting body.
Why This Matters for Boundless Families
For both current and prospective Boundless families, the WASC accreditation effort is a strong reassurance of the quality and reliability of our education program.
Choosing a school, especially in a foreign country or a non-traditional setting, requires a leap of faith. WASC accreditation provides an external seal of approval that our schools meet rigorous international standards for education, operations, and child safety. It tells parents that an independent organization has scrutinized our curriculum, our teacher qualifications, our health and safety practices, and more – and found them to be of high quality. This level of scrutiny can give families added confidence that their children are in good hands with Boundless Life.
It also means we are continuously evaluating and elevating educational practices and rolling out this consistency across all our Boundless Life destinations. Whether your child is learning in Sintra, Bali, Syros, Tuscany, Andalusia, or any future location, WASC accreditation helps ensure that the same standards of excellence apply everywhere.
Accountability, Excellence & Assurance
The WASC accreditation process at Boundless Life is far more than an administrative hurdle – it is a comprehensive journey that is making our Education Centers stronger, safer, and more effective for every learner.
By embracing WASC’s rigorous standards and focus on continuous improvement, Boundless Life is demonstrating accountability and excellence across all our locations.
For families, current and future, this endeavor offers tangible assurance: a Boundless Life education is one you can trust to be high-quality, consistently delivered, and always striving to get even better.
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