The Accreditation Process: Ease on down the road

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The Accreditation Process Ease on down the
road
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Panel
Susan Cameron, District Curriculum Administrator
for the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community
preK-12th schoolsMelissa Holdaway, Charter
Holder and COO for Arizona Charter Academy and
Superior School Andrew Collins, Director of
School Development at ACSA
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Why become accredited?

• Community perception
• Continuous Improvement
• Ease of transferring credits
• Scholarships eligibility for students
• Eligible to host Student Teachers
• Access to resources

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Why AdvancED?

• Unification of NCA CASI, SACS CASI, NSSE, CITA
  creates worlds largest educational community
• 23,000 public and private schools and districts
• 30 states
• Navajo Nation
• Department of Defense
• 66 countries
• Latin America
• 15 million students

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Are you ready?

• Overconfident
• Overwhelmed
• Realistic

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• The Process
• Complete an initial application and submit with
  ____ fee
• Schedule an initial site visit and complete
  readiness survey
• - If school is ready, it will go into candidacy
  status
• Complete a Standards Assessment Report and submit
  at least six weeks prior to your site visit
• Host the Quality Assurance Review Team site visit
  
• if acceptable, the QAR team will recommend the
  school for accreditation and you will become
  ACCREDITATED!
• Submit a progress report two years following the
  Quality Assurance Review.

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After Receiving Accreditation...

• CELEBRATE!
• Act on the Quality Assurance Review Team's
  recommendations.
• Submit a progress report two years following the
  Quality Assurance Review.
• Host a Quality Assurance Review Team once every
  five years.

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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

High Standards
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AdvancED Accreditation Standards
Commitment to Continuous Improvement
Documenting Using Results
Vision Purpose
Governance Leadership
Stakeholder Communicationsand Relationships
High Standards
Resources Support Systems
Teaching Learning
Commitment to Continuous Improvement
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Improvement Process Elements
What future are you pursuing ?
What have you accomplished?
Vision
Continuous Improvement
Profile
Results
What is your current reality?
Monitoring
Plan andImplementation
What actions will you take to improve?
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Continuous Improvement Process

• Process of continuous improvement will
• comprehensively address four elements of
  continuous improvement
• help school meet standards
• focus on improvement of student learning and
  school effectiveness
• satisfy local, state, federal improvement process
  requirements
• be implemented systematically and systemically

Continuous Improvement
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What is Quality Assurance?

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

Quality Assurance
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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.

• QAR visit provides
• Dialogue with professional peers
• Means to evaluate adherence to standards
• High quality feedback to school
• Accreditation recommendation
• Method to verify, validate, and enrich schools
  accomplishments and improvement efforts

Quality Assurance
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Quality Assurance Review

• Schools participate in quality assurance review
  .once every five years
• Two-day visit with at least two hour QAR Team
  orientation before visit
• Scheduled by state office
• Led by certified chair appointed by state office
• Comprised of 2-4 professional peers

Quality Assurance
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Quality Assurance Review Visit

• Before the Visit . the School
• Self-assesses standards
• Identifies and implements improvement process and
  demonstrates results
• Prepares and distributes Standards
• Gather artifacts of evidence
• Assessment Report (6 weeks - 6 months)
• Communicates with chair to develop visit schedule
  and arrange logistics
• Select and inform staff, parents, and students
  who will participate in the QAR team interviews

Quality Assurance
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Quality Assurance Review Visit

• During the Visit .. the School
• Hosts QAR team
• Participates fully in information gathering and
  review activities
• Shares processes used to conduct the work
• Presents evidence
• Showcases progress
• Seeks feedback

Quality Assurance
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Quality Assurance Review Visit

• After the Visit the School
• Continues the journey
• acts on recommendations from Review Team
• maintains momentum and sustains results
• enhances staff interest, learning, and
  involvement
• Submits two-year Accreditation Progress Report
  (APR)
• Continues to engage in improvement

Quality Assurance
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Reality

• Set realistic time frames (the process can take
  up to 2 years)
• Include staff in the process develop a school
  improvement team
• Coordinate with ASIP and NCLB consolidated plans
  which drive school goals
• Make this a process rather than a destination

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Exercise- Readiness Survey

• Take some time to complete the Self Assessment
  survey.
• Be honest
• You may be more ready than you think

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Accreditation Resourceswww.advanc-ed.org
Login, register, and tour!

• Homepage access
• School Accreditation A Handbook for Schools
• The Standards
• Standards Assessment Report template
• Much more
• New this year!!

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AdvancED Resource Network

• Peer to Peer Practices
• Connecting people to people
• Schools are required to submit a practice when
  completing the SAR
• Best Practices
• Connecting people to research
• Resources and Tools
• Connecting people to continuous improvement tools

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Association Resources

• Quality Standards
• Aligned with NCAs Quality Standards
• Success Center
• Training on using data for continuous improvement
• Best Practice Sessions
• Annual Conference
• Connection to mentors

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Thank You!We appreciate your interest and
participation!

• www.advanc-ed.org