History
Starting with a charge from the Accreditation Commission in the summer of 2006, the Accreditation Program began planning the Focused Review Pilot Project. The project ran, with over two dozen museums, over the course of 2007 and 2008. For a detailed timeline and list of participating museums, see the Final Report.

Results
From the project evaluation we learned that, overall, we did not deliver the perfect Self-Study or “streamlined” reaccreditation process that met everyone’s needs one hundred percent. However, the silver lining is that the experiment itself and the extensive feedback from the participants propelled and informed the Accreditation Program’s re-design in a significant new direction—a direction that will have greater impact in terms of program accessibility and relevance. The Focused Review Pilot Project evaluation results, along with comments collected through listening sessions and other feedback tools over the past 3 years, made it possible for the Program to clearly articulate (and back up with data) its needs to the AAM Board and funders. The project findings contributed to our success in getting Kresge and IMLS grants to support hiring McKinsey & Company for the first ever accreditation planning initiative. (Read a summary of the results of the diagnostic phase of this process.)

Why AAM decided not to continue or expand the focused review model as tested.
• Not able to get consensus on criteria for who would be eligible to have a streamlined or focused review, and what a focused review Self-Study should include.
• The focused review Self-Study was still deemed too long (not streamlined enough), and ultimately did not meet the needs of all users: the museum, the Visiting Committee, and the Accreditation Commission. 
• The focused review model, and the features users want, is not manageable or sustainable with AAM’s current human resources and technology. 
• In the end, the pilot project revealed that just manipulating the reaccreditation Self-Study in a vacuum was not the solution to the problems inherent in the Accreditation Program. This approach was trying to attack one symptom, rather than cure the disease. What is needed is a comprehensive reimagining and redesign of the program, from philosophy (what does accreditation mean, what does it measure and how) to value proposition (benefits) to mechanics (Self-Study and process, technology). The McKinsey project described above is helping do this. AAM has decided to invest its staff time and resources in addressing the big picture issues with the program rather than on more stop-gap measures.

Now what? Click here for a status report on the larger re-imagining accreditation initiative. 

Report
Focused Review Pilot Project Final Report
(PDF, 1.6MB) 
The report is 86 pages (48 pages of narrative plus 38 pages of appendices).

Note on printing the PDF of the report: for best results ensure that "chose paper source by PDF page size" is unchecked in your Print dialogue box. Otherwise several sections of the Appendices will require larger paper be put in your printer.