Article Courtesy of Sequoyah County Times

www.sequoyahcountytimes.com

Helping schools and school systems improve student learning” — AdvancED District Accreditation for Quality Systems team

A team of six trained professionals from across the state and nation reviewed district documents and performance data, school and community stakeholders, and conducted site visits to Sallisaw High School, Tommy Spear Middle School, Eastside and Liberty Elementary to observed district and school practices.

Sallisaw is trying to become one of the first districts in Oklahoma to pursue district accreditation, which means the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI) would provide a nationally-recognized accreditation, create continuous school improvement and focus on increasing student performance.

On Wednesday, a special school board meeting was called for the AdvancED Quality Assurance Review Team that arrived in Sallisaw Monday morning to give an oral exit report after reviewing each school.

In preparation for the AdvancEd Quality Assurance Review Team visit an AdvancED committee was formed and made up of faculty from Sallisaw schools. Debbie Phillips is Federal Programs director of the committee. Greg Cast is the committee district chair and Co-chairman are Perrie Weedon; Toni Jasna; Pam Davis; Jessica Dominique; Stacy Peoples and Melissa Oates.

“The visit is to evaluate the district’s adherence to the AdvanED accreditation standards and to make a recommendation for national accreditation,” Cast said.

According to Cast, Sallisaw Schools must meet the AdvancED standards in order to become accredited. He said AdvancED standards consist of a clear vision and purpose; effective and responsive leadership skills; a rigorous curriculum, all departments and operations of the system working in concert and encouraging growth beyond compliance to achieve excellence for its educational programs.

During the oral exit report at the board meeting, Ron Wright, superintendent of a school in northwest Arkansas and chairman of the review team, praised the entire Sallisaw School faculty and commended Tommy Spear Middle School on a job well done despite the conditions and need for a new building “I wish I had time to brag on some of the teachers that I believe are doing an outstanding job but I’m cut short by the weather,” Wright said

According to Wright the team interviewed 17 administrators, 48 teachers, six support staff, 16 parents, community and business partners, 43 students and two board members during the evaluation.

The Quality Assurance Review Team recommended to the AdvancED Accreditation Commission that the Sallisaw Public Schools be awarded District Accreditation as a quality school system. Once reviewed and approved by the AdvancED Accreditation Commission, the district and all its schools are granted a five-year term accreditation. The team’s recommendation will be reviewed and acted upon by the national AdvancED Accreditation Commission in March.

Some challenges Wright talked about were acquiring resources necessary to build a new middle school…“That really is a necessity, but an interesting thing is that most of the higher test scores are coming from that building. The administration and teaching staff in particular need to be commended,” Wright explained.

“Another challenge is to gain support from all stakeholders in the district and maintaining improved test scores and improving scores of students not yet showing progress,” Wright said.

Some of the recommendations from the team are to investigate means to better engage stakeholders who are not actively participating in school improvement efforts. A conclusion from the interviews indicated that families of lower socioeconomic students were much less active in school functions and improvement efforts.

Strengths in Sallisaw Schools, Wright explained, are the commitment to continuous improvement, highly qualified instructional staff, adequate resources for the needs of the instructional staff and how the school system is open to the community for input and use of the facilities.

“Accreditation demonstrates to our students, parents, and community that we are focused on raising student achievement, providing a safe and enriching learning environment, and maintaining an efficient and effective operation staffed by highly qualified educators,” Cast said.

All four schools in Sallisaw have individual accreditation by NCA CASI as follows:

— In 1951 Sallisaw High School received accreditation

— In 1994 Tommy Spear Middle School received accreditation

— In 1998 Eastside and Liberty Elementary Schools received accreditation

The difference between school accreditation and district accreditation according to www.advanc-ed.org Web site is as follows:

School accreditation engages the entire school community in a continuous process of self-evaluation, reflection, and improvement. It invites external scrutiny and welcomes the constructive feedback of peers. It demands rigor, is based in data, and approaches documentation of results with discipline.

District accreditation is a systems approach to improving student performance results over time. District accreditation recognizes that increasing student achievement involves more than improving instruction. It is a result of how well all the parts of the education system—the district, school, and classroom—work together to meet the needs of students.

Members of the visiting team were Farmington, Ark., Superintendent Ron Wright; Wagoner Elementary Assistant Superintendent Vicki Johnson; Alma High School science instructor, Bob Wolfe; Muldrow School Curriculum Director, Clifta Fugett; Muldrow Middle School media specialist, Kathy Jeremiah; and Wagoner Elementary Principal Janet Dotson