Simplify collecting NYSAIS accreditation evidence through daily processes

Whether you’re preparing to apply for New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) accreditation or submit your year-five progress report, you need data. Lots of it. A critical part of that data includes showing how you account for every student and adult during drills. You also need to provide detailed attendance files for each student. But having to sift through reports, spreadsheets, and files to compile that information can be incredibly time consuming.

But it doesn’t need to be. With the right platform, you can collect this information with the routines you perform daily. Digitally recorded and centrally stored, you can pull these reports in minutes. The same system can track your drills so that the information you need is already there.

Why independent schools need NYSAIS accreditation evidence

NYSAIS is authorized by the Board of Regents to accredit independent early childhood, elementary, and secondary schools in New York. All full member schools must hold NYSAIS accreditation, which, according to NYSAIS’s site, offers several benefits, including:

• Validates Educational Quality: Accreditation offers independent, objective confirmation that your school is successfully delivering on its mission and core promises to students.
• Drives Strategic Improvement: The rigorous review process provides deep insights that help shape your five-year strategic plan and continuous campus improvements.
• Unlocks Membership & Advocacy: It satisfies essential requirements for membership in premier educational associations like NAIS and NYSAIS, amplifying the collective voice on key independent school issues.
• Preserves School Independence: Maintaining strong accreditation safeguards your operational autonomy from over-involvement by state and federal government agencies.
• Expands Financial Support: This recognized credential is vital for securing corporate and foundation grants, opening doors to expanded fundraising opportunities.
• Smoothes Student Transitions: Accreditation streamlines college admissions, simplifies school transfers, and helps international students navigate enrollment with confidence.

The NYSAIS accreditation process spans a ten-year cycle. It requires comprehensive self-study and a four-day peer review visit every decade, supplemented by a fifth-year progress report and a shorter two-day visit. Based on these evaluations, the Commission on Accreditation recommends the accreditation status, and the NYSAIS Board of Trustees then officially approves it.

The NYSAIS accreditation evidence you need to document

According to the NYSAIS Manual for Accreditation, several requirements relate to school safety and attendance. The following criteria come from Manual 4.3, approved in 2022. Be sure to check the latest version of the manual for any updates.

• Accreditation criterion B-5.3 asks for safety and attendance procedures for students and adults during a fire or other emergency. It states that drills must include reliable attendance procedures that account for all students and adults.
• B-5.5 and B-5.6 ask for accurate, complete and secure records, with attendance records kept and on file.
• S-5.2 and B-6.1 cover plans for supervision, safety and health, and written policies that protect physical safety.

The self-study requires that you document how you handle arrivals, dismissals, fire drills and lockdowns, how you inform families, and who tracks changes in requirements. During the onsite visit, the NYSAIS team will want to see your emergency preparedness plan, drill logs, and latest safety review. You will also need to produce your Verification Statement, signed by the board chair and the head of school. This document confirms that your school has reviewed its compliance with state law and NYSED guidance.

In short, your safety plan states what should happen, your drill log shows you practiced it, and your attendance records prove everyone was accounted for.

Additional New York law and guidance

In addition to NYSAIS-mandated criteria, you also need to be aware of several laws.

Education Law §807 applies to all public and private schools. It requires twelve drills a year, eight of which must be held between September 1 and December 31. Eight of the twelve drills must be evacuation drills. Of these eight, four must use fire escapes or secondary exits, and four must be lockdown drills. The drills must happen at different times of the school day.

If students sleep on campus, you must add four drills after sunset and before sunrise. If you hold summer school sessions, you must add two additional drills. Based on the NYSED's February 2026 guidance memo, you should split the fall requirement into six evacuation drills and two lockdown drills.

Mandated Services Aid (MSA) & Comprehensive Attendance Policy (CAP), referred to collectively as MSA-CAP, is the attendance reporting program for schools that claim Mandated Services Aid. It requires schools to record attendance daily, summarize it, and keep it on file.

Education Law §3204 requires instruction at nonpublic schools to be substantially equivalent to public school instruction. In 2025, an amendment was added with ways to demonstrate how you meet that standard.

Recommended practice and proposed bills

Commissioner's Regulation §155.17 sets the following additional drill rules for New York public schools:

• Trauma-informed drills
• Notice to parents within a week
• Five standard response terms (evacuate, shelter-in-place, lockdown, hold-in-place, and secure lockout)
• An annual early-dismissal drill

Although these rules apply only to public schools, your school can adopt them as recommended practice. NYSED's February 2026 drills guidance explains each one in further detail. The five standard response terms above come from the New York edition of the Standard Response Protocol, which NYSED developed with the I Love U Guys Foundation. Chris Joffe of Joffe Emergency Services, which supports about 2,000 schools, calls these five the only responses a school can ask its whole community to take. That makes them a sensible shared language for any school.

In addition, you can refer to the 2026 Best Practice Guidance for School Safety and Lockdown Drills, from NASP, NASRO and Safe and Sound Schools. Again, this is offered as guidance on recommended practice, not law. It updates earlier drill advice and stresses a standard set of responses used across the whole school.

Two proposed bills, S8132 and A10239, stalled in the 2026 session. If passed, they would define chronic absence and name nonpublic schools in that definition. It may be worth ensuring your school is ready for these bills, should they become law.

Practical steps for compiling NYSAIS accreditation evidence

To stay on top of these requirements and recommended practices, establish routines to collect safety and attendance evidence so it’s available when you need it. Using the following checklist will help you succeed.

• Keep a running tally of your drills to meet the §807 schedule, including the eight due by December 31. Be sure to note the date, time, and type of each drill
• Ensure every drill includes attendance. That way, each classroom documents who is present, and you confirm everyone is accounted for.
• Log each drill the same day so you don’t forget details. Include the date, time, type, duration (including how long it took to account for everyone), who took part, and what you would change to improve outcomes in future drills.
• To collect evidence for B-5.6 and MSA-CAP, record daily attendance, summarize it, and keep it on file.
• Ensure that arrival, dismissal and drill procedures are documented. Also include how families hear about them.
• Assign one person to track rule changes and brief the board before the Verification Statement is signed.

In addition, measuring drills is also beneficial. In Orah’s 2026 State of Independent School Safety Report, a national survey of 85 independent schools, 93% ran drills regularly, but only 73% measured how the drills went. Schools that measured accounted for all students in 5.8 minutes on average, compared with 8.2 minutes for schools that did not. A simple way to get started is to record the time for all future drills and note if the changes you implement are working.

See how these guidelines work in practice

Weekday morning drill

Imagine a lockdown drill that could occur on any weekday. Each teacher confirms the students in the room and reports the count to the coordinator. When every classroom has reported, the coordinator closes the drill, records the time and notes the one room that reported late. That single sheet becomes a line in the drill log and a data point for the debrief.

Fire drill during a visit by NYSAIS

The faculty at Northwood School in Lake Placid, New York, knew a fire drill was coming during a three-day period, but they didn’t know when. The students didn’t know it was a drill. What the faculty didn’t know was that the NYSAIS team would be asked to quietly pull several students out of the drill, without informing leadership who they pulled. Not only did the school account for everyone within 90 seconds, but they also identified the missing students.

How did they manage this? By following recommended practices, conducting regular drills, and using a school safety platform instead of clipboards.

The school safety platform that helps students stay safe and reduces your workload

Northwood School uses Orah, the school safety platform used by 500+ independent schools. Orah helps schools build the records needed for NYSAIS accreditation evidence from work they already do. It supports preparation, but it does not replace the accreditation process or carry NYSAIS endorsement.

• Attendance keeps daily records on file and ready to share.
• Emergency roll call gives the drill coordinator a live view of who is accounted for.
• The emergency roll is built from daily attendance, ensuring you start drills with accurate records.
• Student location awareness helps staff know where students are during the school day, whether they’re in class or not.
• Operational records keep drill and attendance records in one place for visiting teams, the board, and the business office.

When you know where your students are, the evidence follows from the routines built into your day-to-day.

Click here to learn how two New York schools, the Windward School & Brooklyn Friends School, use Orah for attendance, dismissals, and bringing student location into one system.

Disclaimer: This article is provided as general information, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with NYSAIS, NYSED, or counsel.