NCEA Affiliates
The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) works closely with the following affiliate member organizations that represent a broader continuum of educators within Catholic education and catechesis. These nonprofit organizations represent national, regional, or state matters regarding Catholic education, and serve as the voice of their memberships within NCEA activities and services.
A voluntary association, ACCU was founded in 1899 by 53 delegates from Catholic colleges throughout the United States. Since then, the association has grown fourfold to represent more than 90 percent of accredited Catholic institutions of higher learning in the United States, plus approximately two dozen international universities. ACCU’s principal purposes are to help member institutions strengthen their stated Catholic mission and to foster collaboration among Catholic colleges and universities.
CHESCS is the national association of professionals within Catholic universities and colleges who intentionally focus a significant part of their work on PK-12 Catholic education. CHESCS exists to strengthen Catholic schooling through research, teaching, professional development, consulting and writing.
Established in 1921, the Catholic Library Association is an international membership organization, providing its members professional development through educational and networking experiences, publications, scholarships, and other services. The Catholic Library Association coordinates the exchange of ideas, provides a source of inspirational support and guidance in ethical issues related to librarianship, and offers fellowship for those who seek, serve, preserve, and share the word in all its forms.
The National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools is intended to describe how the most mission-driven, program effective, well managed, and responsibly governed Catholic schools operate. They are offered as school effectiveness standards rather than curriculum content standards, although they support curriculum development consistent with national standards and the Common Core State Standards. They provide benchmarks to determine how well a school is fulfilling its obligation to those who benefit from its services (e.g. students, parents/guardians and families, faculty and staff), to donors and contributors, to the Church, and to civil society.