District Accreditation February 20, 2015 Colleen Rohowsky Office of the Director, DoDDS-Europe,

 The AdvancED Accreditation Process is comprehensive, evaluating all the parts of your institution.  The process focuses on your vision and goals, evaluates teaching and learning, and examines how results are documented and resources are allocated.  The five AdvancED Standards are the foundation of the Accreditation Process and serve as your guide to continuous improvement.

Standard 1: Purpose and Direction Standard 2: Governance and Leadership Standard 3: Teaching and Assessing for Learning Standard 4: Resources and Support Systems Standard 5: Using Results for Continuous Improvement

 Accreditation is designed to help educational institutions boost their ongoing performance efforts for the benefit of their students. AdvancED insists on a relentless pursuit of excellence – for itself and for the institutions it accredits. This ethic of excellence ensures that institutions will find rich benefits from accreditation and that parents can confidently make informed decisions about their children’s education, knowing their child’s school is accredited. Accreditation matters because our students deserve the highest level of educational excellence possible.

 Educational institutions that engage in AdvancED Accreditation will:  Unite with a global network committed to standards of educational excellence.  Earn the distinction of quality through the recognized seal of AdvancED accreditation.  Experience a unified, clear, and powerful accreditation process with a scalable and sustainable evaluation of education quality.  Receive external and objective validation of the areas in which they’re doing well, and the areas for continuous improvement.

 Benefit from AdvancED research that shapes educational policy and improves learning practices.  Experience a state-of-the-art web-based accreditation system that is continuously being upgraded and improved.  Hear the best available ideas and thinking on education practices and trends through innovative products, educational technologies, and the collective knowledge of peers.  Benefit from shared expertise and powerful professional learning through local and global workshops, training, conferences, and personalized service.

 Students and their parents will:  Experience ease in transferring credits from one school to another.  Gain greater access to federal loans, scholarships, postsecondary education and military programs that require students attend an accredited institution.  Benefit from their institution or educational system’s commitment to raising student performance and accountability.

An international protocol for institutions committed to systemic, systematic, and sustainable improvement  Builds capacity of the system and its schools to increase and sustain student learning  Stimulates and improves effectiveness and efficiency throughout the system

A diagnostic process to stimulate and guide continuous improvement with a focus on:  Impact of teaching and learning  Capacity of leadership  Use of resources

 The IEQ results indicate that the school system is performing within acceptable ranges as compared to expected criteria as well as other institutions in the AdvancED network.

 Impact of teaching and learning on student performance  Capacity of leadership to guide and ensure effectiveness in carrying out strategic direction of institution  Utilization of resources to meet diverse needs of students and institution  Use as a tool for formative analysis and continuous improvement  Connection for the conditions, processes, and practices to evidence including student performance

 Complies with AdvancED Policies/Procedures  Reports substantive changes  Implements Security and Crisis Management Plans  Monitors finances  Implements Improvement Plan  Verifies schools meet AdvancED Standards

 What were the district goals and how did they relate to school goals?  Though the district may have had an overall goal, each school had different specific goals that were connected to the district goal. The district operated with two official goals. Some schools selected a behavioral goal. Goals for the district were academic goals. Schools created their own strategies for addressing the goals and the way in which they would measure their success.

 Did district accreditation change the way schools chose Continuous School Improvement (CSI) goals?  The process of selecting the goals did not change. The same group of stakeholders was involved. The process brought the outlying schools towards the district.

 Was there a change in how schools approached CSI?  In the past, districts kept giving schools deadlines and making sure that people were moving towards their visits. With District accreditation, schools saw the district differently. Schools were looking to the district for guidance and help. The relationship between the district and schools was more supportive.

 What new tools did you use to help make collecting data from your schools easier?  The district created an Ibook. In the Ibook they included the paragraphs with hotlinks to the evidence. The document was a working living document. Mark Taylor – A lead evaluator for AdvancED & Assistant Superintendent Lincoln County School District #2 Wyoming

AdvancED does not require it, but the districts should be thinking and planning about what they need to do. Districts should be gathering and reviewing their data. The data should point the district in the direction of focus area(s). Many times districts focus on organizational type goals. Differentiated instruction could be an example of an organizational goal. The district needs to determine through the data what are the most important areas for the district. Annette Bohling

 Schools do not have to be mirrors of the district’s goals. Schools can have tiered goals that maximize on the district goals or teaching strategies. Schools should respond to their data, but they should take advantage of the district goals and be aware of the direction the district is moving.  AdvancED

DoDEA should be working as a system. There should be an alignment between HQ, Area, District, Schools. Up to this point, there have been many “satellite” schools and or districts. District accreditation creates the ability to optimize DoDEA programs and processes in a systemic fashion. Leadership changes from principals to directors as well as teacher changes-all are not uncommon in DoDEA. The power of the system (district) model can provide more stability and decrease the time teachers and leaders must invest into learning a new model. Annette Bohling

 Is there a school level review first to determine what the district is doing to support the schools?  The schools will be visited before going to the district. The school level review will contain all the documents the school has submitted in ASSIST; the interview of the stakeholders, and the classroom visits (ELEOT).  AdvancED

 AdvancED policy is that they we go into every school in locations where the schools are not side by side the district or where schools are located in different states.  AdvancED will arrive at the district on a Sunday. The team will begin by interviewing district level people, then combine what they observed and heard at the schools. The artifact review will be at the district level. The oral exit will occur at the district level.

 Are the schools still responsible for addressing the standards?  Yes. While the move to district accreditation means the district becomes accountable the schools still have to meet the standards as they are still being accredited. AdvancED will look at the way the district looks at the schools. Districts ensure that the schools are going through the process.  AdvancED

Std. 1 Purpose and Direction The school maintains and communicates a purpose and direction that commit to high expectations for learning as well as shared values

 Indicator 1.3 The school’s leadership implements a continuous improvement process that provides clear direction for improving conditions that support student learning

 The school operates under governance and leadership that promote and support student performance and school effectiveness

 How does the district go about effecting change in the classroom?

Challenges ? Strengths? Concerns?