Accreditation for the 21st Century: The AdvancED Process

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Accreditation for the 21st Century The
AdvancED Process

• Quality Assurance Review
• Team Chair
• Module I

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QAR Team Chair Modules I-IV

• Module I
• Accreditation for the 21st Century The AdvancED
  Process
• Module II
• Leading and Managing the Visit
• Module III
• The Evidentiary Process
• Module IV
• Determining and Communicating Findings

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Module 1 Goals

• Participants will
• become familiar with AdvancED - our new unified
  organization.
• gain knowledge and understanding about the
  AdvancED accreditation process.

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Activity Why Be Accredited?

• What are the benefits of
• being an accredited school?
• Consider and share.

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A Picture of AdvancED
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A Picture of AdvancED

• The Unification creates the Worlds Largest
  Educational Community
• 23 thousand public and private schools
• 30 states and Navajo Nation
• Department of Defense Education Activity
• 65 countries (including Latin America)
• 15 million students
• 16 thousand volunteers
• 3 million plus teachers

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A Picture of AdvancED

NCA CASI
SACS CASI
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A Picture of AdvancED

• Dedicated to Advancing Excellence in Education
  through
• Accreditation
• High Standards, Continuous Improvement, Quality
  Assurance
• Professional Services
• Professional Development, Technical Assistance,
  Conferences, Consulting
• Research and Innovation
• Publications, Resources, Tools, Evaluation

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The AdvancED Accreditation Process
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Accreditation Process and Products

• Schools will be accredited for a five year term
• Internal Review
• School conducts an internal review of its current
  capacity in meeting accreditation standards
• Standards Assessment Report (SAR)
• External Review
• School hosts an external review conducted by
  professional peers
• Quality Assurance Review Report (QAR)
• Accreditation Recommendation
• Continuous Improvement
• School continues to monitor, document, and
  evaluate its improvement efforts
• Accreditation Progress Report (APR)

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Accreditation Process

• Accreditation and Continuous Improvement
• On an ongoing basis schools
• Conduct periodic self-assessments
• Meet/exceed AdvancED quality standards
• Implement and monitor a continuous improvement
  process
• Identify and employ internal quality assurance
  methods
• Benefit from professional learning

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Accreditation Process
Submit Standards Assessment Report SAR

• Constantly
• Assess
• Learn
• Improve

Submit Progress Report Two Years After the
Visit APR
Host a Quality Assurance Review
Team QAR
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ExploreThe Accreditation Process and Resources

• Best resource
• www.advanc-ed.org
• Login, register, and tour!

Right from the Homepage, you can access the
standards, accreditation process overviews,
Standards Assessment Report template, and more.
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Three Pillars of Accreditation
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Three PillarsThe Cornerstones of Accreditation

• Accredited Schools Must
• Meet high standards
• Engage in continuous improvement
• Demonstrate quality assurance

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State of the State

• What are the requirements, procedures and
  resources in your state, district, diocese etc.?
• How do they align with and support the
  accreditation pillars?

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Pillar 1 Meet High Standards
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Activity Characteristics of Quality

• Reflect on a school you know about that you
  believe meets high standards
• List the characteristics of that school
• Share your list with a partner

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AdvancED Standards for Quality Schools

• Comprehensive statements of quality practices and
  conditions that research and best practice
  indicate are necessary for schools to achieve
  quality student performance and organizational
  effectiveness

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AdvancED Standards for Quality Schools

• Vision and Purpose
• Governance and Leadership
• Teaching and Learning
• Documenting and Using Results
• Resources and Support Systems
• Stakeholder Communications and Relationships
• Commitment to Continuous Improvement

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AdvancED Standards for Quality Schools

• Standards (7)
• comprehensive statement of quality practices and
  conditions
• Indicators (56)
• operational definitions or descriptions of
  practices and processes
• Impact Statements (7)
• characteristics, processes, and actions that
  would be observable and verifiable in a school
  that effectively implements the standard

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AdvancED Standards

• Standards are the foundation of the accreditation
  process
• Standards and indicators are inter-related and
  form a collective whole (systemic connectedness)
• Standards and indicators are aligned with and
  supported by research
• Standards and indicators address factors that
  directly contribute to student learning and
  variables schools can impact
• Standards cross state, regional and national
  boundaries

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AdvancED Standards for Quality Schools

• Research Base
• Three core tasks that impact student achievement
• Ensure Desired Results
• Improve Teaching and Learning
• Foster a Culture of Improvement
• Source NSSE Technical Guide, www.nsse.org

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AdvancED Standards for Quality Schools

• Five conditions that contribute to student
  achievement
• Quality teachers
• Effective leadership
• Quality information
• Policies and procedures
• Resources and support systems
• Source NSSE Technical Guide, www.nsse.org

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Standards Assessment Report (SAR)

• School personnel are encouraged to periodically
  perform an assessment of the standards for
  internal use
• Informs and engages stakeholders
• Serves as a valuable formative measure
• Word version of the SAR is on the website
• Located in the accreditation section
• Contains
• Indicator rubric for each standard
• Focus questions for each standard

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Standards Assessment Report

• Submitted on-line 6 months to 6 weeks prior to
  QAR visit
• Available in Portable Document Format (pdf) to
  QAR chair and team
• Review before the visit
• Use to gather evidence and verify the schools
  adherence to the standards during the visit
• Instructions for completing and submitting online
  
• E-Learning on Professional Development Tab Menu
• Includes Identification and Submission of a
  Peer-to-Peer Practice

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Standards Assessment Report

• Demographics
• Information on Each of the Standards
• Indicators Section
• Uses a rubric to assess each indicator
• Not Evident, Emerging, Operational, Highly
  Functional
• Focus Questions Section
• Demonstrates interdependency of standards
• Provides opportunity to share evidence
• Examples of Evidence To Consider
• Menu of practices, artifacts
• Overall Assessment of Standard with Descriptive
  Rubric
• Conclusion with general focus questions

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Accessing the Schools SAR

• Click Accreditation Tab
• Click Accreditation Tasks
• Select Manage Accreditation for Staff and
  Volunteers
• Search for School
• Click View/Edit Accreditation Tasks
• Click Appropriate Action Link

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Knowing the Standards

• All members of the team must have a deep
  understanding of all seven standards
• Encourage your team to study standards before the
  visit
• Talk about the standards in the QAR team
  orientation

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Activity Knowing the Standards

• Brightening and BlendingIn your standard
  group, discuss
• Devise a phrase that describes the standard in
  your own words
• Explain the importance of the standard in terms
  of the school, classroom, learner
• Graphically depict how the standard impacts other
  standards and how other standards may impact this
  standard
• Record your work and post

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Knowing the Standards

• 3. Identify and list data or potential evidence
  that could illustrate the degree to which the
  standard is met
• 4. Record your work on chart paper and post
• 5. Participate in a gallery walk
• Review each of the other 6 standards
• Add potential evidence to each standard AND/OR
  indicate how evidence for the standard relates to
  your groups assigned standard

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Pillar 2 Engage in Continuous Improvement
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Learning Organization

• We must build organizations where people
  continuously expand their capacity to create the
  results they truly desire, where new and
  expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured,
  where collective aspiration is set free, and
  where people are continually learning together.
  
• Peter Senge

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Continuous Improvement

• An accredited school
• makes the commitment and demonstrates the
  capacity to engage in ongoing improvement
• Educators in accredited schools
• possess a can do attitude
• have high expectations for themselves and
  students
• are willing to create, experiment, innovate, and
  try new things
• strive to improve their effectiveness

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Continuous Improvement Process

• The process you choose must
• comprehensively address the four elements of
  continuous improvement
• help the school meet the standards
• focus on improvement of student learning and
  school effectiveness
• satisfy local, state, federal improvement process
  requirements
• be implemented in a systematic and systemic manner

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Improvement Process Elements
What future are you pursuing ?
What have you accomplished?
Vision
Profile
Results
What is your current reality?
Monitoring
What actions will you take to improve?
Plan andImplementation
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Element Vision

• An expression of the ideal or desired
  stateprovides purpose and sets
  directioninspires actionaligned with student
  expectations for learning
• How is vision developed and used?
• Stakeholders examine their beliefs and values
  through collaboration and community engagement
• School uses vision to derive expectations for
  student learning

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Element Profile

• Provides a rich and accurate description of the
  schools current realityinfluences the schools
  decisions, efforts, and actions
• How is the profile developed and used?
• School stakeholders collect information/data on
  students and their performance, school
  effectiveness, and the school community
  contexts for learning
• School uses profile to target areas for
  improvement

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Element Plan and Implementation

• Identifies what is to be improved, how
  improvement efforts will be implemented, and how
  success will be measured
• How are plans developed, implemented, and used?
• Stakeholders identify improvement goal areas
  along with appropriate interventions, strategies,
  and/or activities designed to support growth and
  success
• Interventions (or strategies) are monitored
  throughout implementation and adjustments are
  made as needed
• Formative assessments provide insights
  regarding potential impact of plan

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Element Results

• A determination of how successful current
  improvement efforts have beenprovides beginning
  place for future improvement efforts
• How are results collected and used?
• School collects and analyzes data to determine
  impact of improvement efforts
• School documents and communicates results to
  stakeholders
• School uses results to determine next steps for
  continuous improvement

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Activity Continuous Improvement

• Reflect on the four elements of the continuous
  improvement process
• Vision
• Profile
• Plan
• Results
• Why are each of these elements important for
  continuous improvement?
• Share with a partner

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Pillar 3 Demonstrate Quality Assurance
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What is Quality Assurance?

• Protecting the public trust
• Professional and organizational integrity
• The school strives to deliver on its promise and
  be what it claims to be
• The school fulfills the requirements of
  accreditation
• The school is honest and truthful in
  communicating and reporting
• Individuals engage in professional and ethical
  behavior
• Internal and external review

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The Hallmark of Accreditation
The QAR visit is the most significant
contributor to the value and perception of the
accreditation process.

• The QAR visit provides
• Dialogue with professional peers
• A means to evaluate adherence to standards
• High quality feedback to the school
• An accreditation recommendation
• A method to verify, validate, and enrich the
  schools accomplishments and improvement efforts

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Quality Assurance

• Consider
• What does quality mean?
• What assurance mean?
• What is the difference between internal and
  external review?
• What might a school do to engage in meaningful
  internal review?

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Roles and Responsibilities
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Roles and Responsibilities

• School Improvement Team / Steering Committee /
  Leadership Team
• provide leadership and direction
• organize, lead, decide, manage, coordinate
• School Administrator(s)
• serve on the leadership team
• provide perspective, information, resources and
  encouragement
• School Staff
• serve on committees and teams
• support the work of accreditation and school
  improvement through contribution
  and participation

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Roles and Responsibilities

• Stakeholders
• provide input and assistance, communicate with
  their constituents
• AdvancED Internal Consultants
• provide information, guidance and support
• inform, assist, teach, coach, connect, champion
• School District
• provide leadership through direction, assistance,
  resources

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Roles and Responsibilities

• AdvancED State Office
• offer professional development, training, and
  networking opportunities
• provide support, assistance, tools and resources
• schedule Quality Assurance Reviews and assign
  chairs and members

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Resources and Benefits
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AdvancED Resource Network

• Peer to Peer Practices
• Connecting people to people
• Best Practices
• Connecting people to research
• Resources and Tools
• Connecting people to tools for continuous
  improvement

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AdvancED Resource Network

• Peer to Peer Practices
• A description of interventions, strategies,
  programs, or activities that have been identified
  by a school or system to be effective
• Global Professional Learning Community
• Schools will be required to submit a practice
  when completing the SAR

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Human Resources

• AdvancED State Staff
• Offices in 30 states and Navajo Nation
• www.advanc-ed.org/about_us/state_offices
• AdvancED Field Consultants
• Represent AdvancED
• Personalized and customized contact, technical
  assistance, and training
• AdvancED Professional Services Team
• Staff and consultants
• Professional Colleagues and Peers
• Formal and informal networking

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Material Resources

• Educational Practices Reference Guide
• References/examples of practices aligned with
  standards that assist in providing a quality
  learning environment
• Pertain to areas such as class size, teacher
  qualifications, governance etc.
• NSSE / AdvancED
• Products, services, and materials for your
  accreditation and continuous improvement needs
• Communication and marketing materials for your
  school

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Benefits of Accreditation

• Mark of Quality
• High Quality Standards
• Proven Improvement Processes
• Means to Meet Requirements (Local, State,
  Federal)
• Professional Services
• Technical Assistance
• Peer Review and Support
• Research-Based Products and Services
• Credit Reciprocity
• Access to Scholarships and Higher Education
  Opportunities
• Resource Network

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Reflect and Share

• In what ways is the accreditation process
• like a rivers journey?

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Review

• A Picture of AdvancED
• The Accreditation Process
• Pillars of Accreditation
• High Standards
• Continuous Improvement
• Quality Assurance
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Resources and Benefits

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• Accreditation is an activity, not a status.
  Schools are accredited because of the way they
  move, not the way they stand.
• John A. Stoops
• Former Middle States Executive Director
• Elementary Schools
• First Executive Director, CITA

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Thank You!We appreciate your interest and
participation.

• www.advanc-ed.org
• Quality Assurance Review Team Chair
• Module 1