What is more important about this process is instilling best practices within our educational institution and making sure that we are continuously engaging in the most effective educational practices for our kids. Controversy and discontent with accreditation are usually around cultural differences and community expectations. Some educators and community members advocate that their community is different than other communities so "you can't compare us with others or put us in that standardized box." AdvancED has created a system of standards and indicators that are universal regardless of community culture. Those focus areas are:
- Purpose and Direction
- Governance and Leadership
- Teaching and Assessing for Learning
- Resources and Support Systems
- Using Results for Continuous Improvement
Those 5 standards each contain indicators which are scored by an external review team that visits each institution for a period of time to affirm accreditation and leave the organization with powerful practices and areas of improvement to move forward with. Accreditation also leaves a community with the confidence that their local academic institution is fully accredited and their students are leaving with a basic education that will allow them to be successful in a global economy.
At a recent area superintendent meeting, I was discussing with other superintendents our district's accreditation experience with theirs, and although there were many similarities, there were also differences. This is not unusual for evaluation. There is an old saying "a church is perfect until you put people in it." People are not standardized or reliable. They do not see things the same way and every AdvancED accreditation team is completely different. They will have different experiences at different institutions and their view will be different based on their belief systems. Regardless of the matrix of scoring that they hold in their hand, they can make a case for a score based on their personal belief system which is not consistent, standardized, or objective. What does this mean? Take accreditation for what it is; a group of experienced educators from another community, analyzing and evaluating our educational institution according to a set of standards that we can compare against other districts. This process gives us a systematic approach to how an educational institution should run, and drives us to implement a continuous improvement process that will sustain growth for a long period of time. It is not perfect.
Evaluation does not go away, it is used to improve a person, organization, institution, etc. Teachers evaluate students - principals evaluate teachers - superintendents evaluate principals - school boards evaluate superintendents - the community evaluates the board members at election time - the Wyoming Department of Education is supposed to evaluate districts, however, districts also look to outside accreditation teams to give us the most objective view of ourselves possible. Evaluation and continuous improvement should be an ongoing process in any organization. So, with that in mind, what grade would you give our federal government on their performance?
CARBON 1 UP!
At a recent area superintendent meeting, I was discussing with other superintendents our district's accreditation experience with theirs, and although there were many similarities, there were also differences. This is not unusual for evaluation. There is an old saying "a church is perfect until you put people in it." People are not standardized or reliable. They do not see things the same way and every AdvancED accreditation team is completely different. They will have different experiences at different institutions and their view will be different based on their belief systems. Regardless of the matrix of scoring that they hold in their hand, they can make a case for a score based on their personal belief system which is not consistent, standardized, or objective. What does this mean? Take accreditation for what it is; a group of experienced educators from another community, analyzing and evaluating our educational institution according to a set of standards that we can compare against other districts. This process gives us a systematic approach to how an educational institution should run, and drives us to implement a continuous improvement process that will sustain growth for a long period of time. It is not perfect.
Evaluation does not go away, it is used to improve a person, organization, institution, etc. Teachers evaluate students - principals evaluate teachers - superintendents evaluate principals - school boards evaluate superintendents - the community evaluates the board members at election time - the Wyoming Department of Education is supposed to evaluate districts, however, districts also look to outside accreditation teams to give us the most objective view of ourselves possible. Evaluation and continuous improvement should be an ongoing process in any organization. So, with that in mind, what grade would you give our federal government on their performance?
CARBON 1 UP!
