HISTORY

In October of 1983, at the Chief Administrators of Catholic Education meeting in Keystone, Colorado, Brother William Rhody spoke to a number of school superintendents concerning the formation of a nonpublic school national accrediting association.

The school administrators who expressed an interest in forming a national accrediting association were from states with no state accrediting associations or states that did not include nonpublic schools in their accreditation process. The administrators were asked to poll the nonpublic schools in their state to determine the feasibility of developing a national nonpublic school accrediting association.

After reviewing the results of the state polling data, school administrators from Missouri and Minnesota met in April, 1984 to form a national nonpublic school accrediting association. One year later Michigan passed a resolution to join Missouri and Minnesota in forming a new association named The National Federation of Nonpublic School State Accrediting Associations (also known as The National Federation).

The Articles of Incorporation for The National Federation were filed in the State of Minnesota on August 31, 1984. The association’s constitution and by-laws were drawn-up and formally adopted in September of, 1984 by appointed officials from Missouri, Michigan, and Minnesota at a meeting held at the Catholic Archdiocesan Office in Chicago. The appointed members were Billie Kops Wimmer of Michigan; Sr. Mary Ann Eckhoff of Missouri; and Brother William Rhody of Minnesota.

Policies, procedures, and criteria have been developed for the purpose of admitting other state associations into The National Federation (NFNSSAA). The membership criteria and the association’s constitution and by-laws are reviewed annually at the NFNSSAA spring meeting.

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