The National Association of Schools of Theatre member institutions develop national accreditation standards and guidelines in consultation with other individuals and organizations. Only the member institutions have a vote when standards are being set, however. Professional consensus among the faculties and administrators of approximately 184 institutions produces authority. It enables the standards to protect as well as to inform. The standards are referenced many times each day at all levels of education. They promote good decisions because they focus attention on artistic and educational essentials.
The standards are effective because they create a framework of basic competencies and operational conditions rather than a blueprint for standardizing programs. The approach to process is based on support for each institution’s fulfillment of its mission, goals, and objectives. Through NAST, its member institutions have a common means for centering critical responsibility for standards and assessment in theatre while respecting the prerogatives of individual institutions and faculty members to create, develop, and evaluate local programs.
For these and many other reasons, NAST institutional Membership means investing in the stature and health of our own profession, in the maintenance of conditions and resources necessary for student learning, and in a system of national review and accountability that we ourselves own and operate. No organization or group outside the field could fulfill these comprehensive and interlocking responsibilities for us.
- NAST institutional Membership provides an assurance that each accredited institution has implemented all standards of the Association applicable to the theatre programs it offers.
- NAST participates in the national conversation about educational issues with special emphases on theatre, the arts, and higher education.
- The granting of accredited Membership by the Commission on Accreditation signifies that an institution has successfully demonstrated compliance with the procedures, standards, and guidelines of the Association.
- NAST works with other peer associations such as the Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE).