MCSD Seeks SACS CASI Accreditation
The Muscogee County School District will undergo a three-and-a-half-day
interview and data collection session with members of the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School
Improvement (SACS CASI) October 8-10.
District Accreditation is the highest level of accreditation that a
school system can receive from the SACS CASI organization. District
Accreditation was developed by SACS CASI as a response to requests from
systems already engaged in quality strategic planning and wanting to better
align their efforts, state and federal accountability requirements, and SACS
accreditation.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Fourteen members of SACS CASI Quality Assurance Review (QAR) team,
educators from across the country, will arrive in the Muscogee County School
District on Monday to
- Hear a State of the District presentation from the Superintendent of
Education.
- Interview key school district stakeholders and gather data, integral to the
process of verifying the district’s guided self study and formulating
appropriate systemic commendations and recommendations for the District.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
- Interview key stakeholders in a sampling of school sites and continue to
gather data and verify the district’s guided self study
from the school site’s perspective.
- Interview data collected through the school visits will also play an
important role in formulating commendations and
recommendations for the district as well as verification of the District’s
compliance with the seven SACS CASI Accreditation
Standards for Quality School System.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
- Conduct any final interviews needed for the Standards’ verification.
- Finalize all mini team reports, and provide information for the Oral Exit
Report. *
- Review the major conclusions set forth in
the Oral Exit Report and reach consensus as a Team prior to the QAR Team
Chairperson’s presentation of the exit report to the
Muscogee County School Board, Superintendent, and district employees at a
called Board meeting on Wednesday, October 10, at 1:00 pm in the Board Room of the Bradley Library in Columbus.
District Accreditation is a powerful systems’ approach that reflects the
“next generation” of accreditation; it gives school districts the
flexibility and responsibility to identify and implement their desired
process of continuous improvement focusing on increasing student
performance. Since District Accreditation addresses issues systemically and
uses quality tools, it strengthens the effectiveness and capacity of
districts and their schools to sustain learning gains. It is a process that
examines how all the processes and functions of a district work in concert
to the benefit of student learning. School systems pursuit of District
Accreditation is voluntary.
SACS CASI District Accreditation requires commitment from the district’s
leadership and Board of Education. In order for a district to be eligible to
apply, every school in the district must be individually accredited.
Additionally, building upon that foundation of successful accreditation
experience, the district must have in place or in development a quality
strategic planning process focused on improving student learning, and commit
to achieving and maintaining three SACS CASI requirements, including:
- Meeting (by documenting and validating compliance with) seven
Accreditation Standards for Quality School Systems.
- Pursuing and demonstrating the foundations of continuous improvement
- Providing methods for quality assurance whereby it demonstrates
institutional integrity and trustworthiness, delivers on its promises to
stakeholders, and hosts an external review by trained professionals who
assess and provide recommendations to strengthen the quality of the work of
the district.
An external quality assurance review team trained by SACS CASI makes a
three-and-a-half-day visit to the district. The role and responsibilities of
the team are to
- Assess the capacity of the system to meet the seven District
Accreditation standards;
- Assess the efficacy and impact of the district’s improvement process;
- Assess the effectiveness of the system’s methods for quality assurance;
- Identify strengths of the system deserving of commendation; and
Develop recommendations that are designed to help strengthen the school
system.
The Quality Assurance Team gathers data and evidence during the visit by
interviewing a wide range of system and school level stakeholders. In
considering the evidence as provided through data, documentation,
observation, and dialogue, the Team
- Seeks a district perspective;
- Pursues evidence that can be correlated through multiple sources;
- Examines the context and capacity of the school system in relation to its
vision, mission, and beliefs; and
Applies the Standards for accreditation.
As of January 1, 2007, there are over 300 districts that are in the
process or have achieved District Accreditation.
