What is MSCES? The Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is one of three accreditation units of this regional accrediting body. Other units include the Commission on Higher Education and the Commission on Secondary Schools. MSCES works with public and private schools that serve an elementary-age population in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. MSCES also works with schools in the mid-East, near-East, Africa, and Europe.  MSCES (and its predecessor, the Assembly of Elementary Schools) has provided accreditation protocols to schools since 1978. Many protocols have been developed since the early days of MSCES, but all rely on the concepts of peer evaluation and self-regulation to provide continuous school improvement. MSCES operates from the Philadelphia offices of MSA. It is from this location that schools seeking accreditation are processed for candidacy, evaluation teams are developed for member schools, and accreditation actions taken by the MSCES Commissioners are sent out to member schools.