The author examines the process for applying for National Association for Development Education (NADE) accreditation. The multi-year process began when the English faculty of the community college she works at reviewed data from the National Community College Benchmark Project. The data showed low success rates and poor persistence from developmental into college-level courses. As a member of the Developmental English Redesign Team, she studied various models of developmental English programs across the country. Research led her to a model of accelerated developmental education called the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), which was first developed at the Community College of Baltimore County. The journey, according to the author, was long and challenging, but has had many benefits.