TEPSAC accreditation evidence using daily attendance procedures

Texas does not accredit independent schools itself. However, accreditation still shapes much of what your school does, and since the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program began with the 2026-27 school year, it carries more weight than before. The path to accreditation can differ, as can the types of records that are considered evidence, as well as how you should maintain those records so they’re easily accessible when you need them.

How accreditation works in Texas

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) does not regulate, approve, or accredit private schools directly. It stopped accrediting non-public schools after May 1989. Instead, the commissioner of education recognizes accrediting associations, which came together as the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission (TEPSAC).

Your school is not accredited by TEPSAC itself, but by one of roughly 20 agencies approved by TEPSAC. These agencies include, but are not limited to:

• Association of Christian Schools International South-Central Region (ACSI)
• Cognia
• The Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS)
• Texas Alliance of Accredited Private Schools (TAAPS)
• Texas Catholic Conference Education Department

The Texas Private Schools Association (TPSA) is not an accrediting agency, but rather an advocacy association for private schools. It helps member schools with representation and resources. Since TPSA does not accredit schools, a school can belong to TPSA and be accredited by any TEPSAC member association.

Why accreditation matters more now than ever

While accreditation is voluntary in Texas, TEFA ties it to funding. To participate in TEFA, your independent school must be accredited by a TEPSAC-recognized organization or another accreditor recognized by TEA. It must also have operated continuously for at least two school years and administer a nationally norm-referenced assessment. For 2026-27, the award for a student at a participating independent school is $10,474.

TEFA also highlights enrollment records. Eligibility and enrollment are verified before funds reach a family's account, so the data your front office keeps has a direct link to how families pay. While participation in TEFA is not mandatory, the accreditation records you keep are useful.

Accreditation also opens one safety resource. Under Texas Education Code section 37.119, a school district may offer safety training courses at no cost to employees of accredited independent schools in the district. You will have to confirm with your district whether this option is available to your school.

What TEPSAC accreditation evidence looks like

Each accreditor has its own handbook, with a different process and regulations, so start there. ISAS offers a useful picture of how the process can work.

ISAS member schools follow a ten-year evaluation cycle. During that time, your school completes a Self Study and a Documentation of Adherence to Standards (DAS). These processes not only allow you to reflect on your efforts to fulfill your school’s mission, but also to demonstrate your school’s compliance with ISAS standards. A Visiting Committee then reviews and validates what your school submitted, and then your school files an interim report in year five.

The DAS is more objective than the Self Study report. It combines narrative responses, school data, statistics, school policies, handbooks, and publications. In other words, it’s a mix of evidence of what you say you do and the records that show you do it.

Because so much of that evidence comes from records you create through the year, the work gets easier when those records are tidy from the start. It becomes even easier when the records are created as part of your day-to-day processes.

What Texas law does and does not require

As an independent school, Texas law gives you wide latitude. Texas exempts students at private and parochial schools from compulsory attendance under Education Code section 25.086, and TEA does not oversee them. TEA’s attendance reporting rules only apply to public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools, and Texas does not register, license, or approve private schools.

Recent school safety laws also focus on public schools. HB 3 (2023) requires an armed security officer on public and open-enrollment charter campuses. SB 838 (2025) requires silent panic alert devices in public and charter classrooms, and HB 121 (2025) expands TEA's safety role. TEA's new rule, section 103.1215, applies these requirements to public schools.

Your independent schools’ safety and attendance standards come largely from your own policies, your accreditor, your insurer, and your board. Documenting attendance and safety records, though not required, is good practice, and quite simple with the right tools.

Build a TEPSAC accreditation evidence file you can pull from

The following habits keep your records ready without needing a specific project to update them every few years. Thus, you have them on hand when you need them, whether you’re applying for accreditation, submitting an interim report, or sharing them with your board.

Keep attendance current throughout the day. Teachers mark attendance as the day progresses, and your front office sees the same picture. When accreditation or TEFA verification asks for enrollment and attendance data, you pull it from one place, quickly and easily.

Date and keep your drill records. Staff in Texas plan for severe weather as well as lockdowns. In Orah's 2026 State of Independent School Safety report, produced with ATLIS and True North Research, 35% of surveyed schools reported a severe weather disruption in the past 12 months. A dated record of each drill, who took part, and how long it took gives your Visiting Committee concrete evidence to review.

Keep Leave Pass and dismissal records. Early pickups, appointments, and carline changes show how your school runs day to day. Keeping records in one place makes them easier to present to an accreditor or a board.

Assign an owner and a refresh date. Pick one person to own the evidence file. They’re responsible for reviewing it each term, not just the year before a visit.

Ask your accreditor what it expects. Request the document list for your next cycle, and keep it with your file.

How Orah helps with TEPSAC accreditation evidence

Orah gives you and your staff one picture of where students are. Teachers take attendance, and then everyone sees the same attendance data as it updates. Attendance Insights shows trends by division, grade level, and group. Leave Passes and dismissals feed the same record, and Orah syncs with your student information system (SIS), so you aren’t stuck having to re-enter the same data twice.

When your school runs an Emergency Roll, you start with an accurate picture, generated from your daily attendance. Orah also keeps a time-stamped record of who was accounted for and when. After a drill, you can view that record, share it with your leadership team, or file it with your evidence.

Orah is an extremely useful platform for supporting the records behind your accreditation work. However, Orah does not replace your accreditor's standards, nor does it determine accreditation results.

See how Orah works

Join us on November 12 to see how Texas independent schools, like the Dallas International School, use Orah to know where their students are. In addition to practical tips on using Orah from independent schools in Texas, you’ll also have the opportunity to ask the panel questions about what using Orah looks like day to day. Be sure to register so we can send you the recording and slides even if you can’t attend on the day.

This article is provided as general information, not legal advice. Check your accreditor's current standards, and talk with your own counsel about questions specific to your school.

Register for the webinar