WASC International Toolkit

International Applicant International Applicant Schools Toolkit Schools Toolkit

Introduction to the WASC International Toolkit

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to WASC We are very happy that you have chosen to work with us as you lead your school towards gaining accreditation

WASC believes in working in partnership with member schools and in providing personalised support to help your school focus on its major development needs in order to align practices with WASC expectations.

As you are working towards candidacy, we will provide you with tools and advice to help you complete your School Description. This toolkit, along with your school’s personal orientation workshop, is designed to give you the basic information you will need to prepare for your Pre Initial or Initial Visit.

Once a school reaches the Initial or Pre Initial Visit stage each school is assigned a consultant that will guide your school through the self study process

Please contact me at malvarez@acswasc.org should you need further advice or information.

With every best wish, Margaret Margaret Alvarez Ed. D Director of International Education

Some essentials as you begin your journey to accreditation

Documents

You will need three documents as you start this journey

• The Initial Visit Procedures Manual- this will guide you as you move through the process of completing the school description. In here you will find information about the process and the WASC criteria.

• The Template for the school description- this is where you write your school school description

• This tool kit- here you will find tips and ideas as you prepare your school description

Your school will also be given a presentation about the process by a member of our WASC staff. This is an opportunity to clarify any questions you may have.

Purpose

Each school needs to have a statement of purpose, sometimes called a mission statement that outlines an organization’s beliefs about what the school can do for students. Sometimes a school also has a vision statement and a statement of values/beliefs.

WASC Guiding Principles

These principles are embedded in the WASC Focus on Learning process and schools working towards accreditation are expected to demonstrate alignment with these principles

● Total involvement and collaboration of all stakeholders

Let’s start by introducing some key concepts/ideas

● A culture of collaboration that nurtures and supports the well-being of all students

● Accomplishment of its vision, mission, and schoolwide learner outcomes, including global competencies (see below)

● High achievement of all students based on the desired outcomes: schoolwide learner outcomes, global competencies, academic standards, and major student learner needs

● Use of multiple ways to analyze data about student achievement, including student and staff perceptions/interviews, examining student work, and observing students engaged in learning

● Evaluation of the program effectiveness in relation to 1) impact on student learning based on desired outcomes: schoolwide learner outcomes, global competencies, major student learner needs, and academic standards; and 2) meeting an acceptable level of quality in accordance with the ACS WASC criteria

● Alignment of prioritized findings to a schoolwide action plan focusing on student achievement

● Continuous improvement/accountability.

What do the Guiding Principles mean for my school at this point?

1. All stakeholders need to be involved in creating the School Descriptions and the process ought to be collaborative. You will find a video that helps build collaborative practices in the appendices.

2. WASC expects a school to use data - quantitative as well as qualitativeas evidence. Examples include observations, examination of student work, group inquiry, surveys, test scores.

3. Students enrolled in the school need to have a good chance of success.

4. A school needs to have a clear statement of purpose and a set of school wide learner outcomes that include references to global competencies. A school measures its achievement of these statements

5. A school has systems in place to measure the effectiveness of its programmes

6. A school has an action plan in place that is geared towards addressing the school’s major student achievement needs.

7. A school needs to demonstrate that it is committed to ongoing school improvement.

Not to worry if your school does not have all this in place. The WASC process and your school’s consultant give you the support you need to strengthen your school’s practice.

WASC Criteria

These are the criteria you find in sections A-G. And they are the major focus of the School Description. You will write describing and analysing your school’s degree of alignment to these criteria.

Schoolwide Learner Outcomes

These are collaboratively developed statements that express the school community’s beliefs about students; current and future learning needs. Global competencies are embedded into these statements. These statements usually inform the school community about what a student from the school will be able to do, understand and demonstrate.

An example:

Students will be: INNOVATIVE THINKERS who

Build on the ideas, explanations, and reasons of others

Summarize, analyze, interpret, and evaluate information

Define problems and use problem-solving strategies appropriate to the context

Create original work

Use technology to create products of high quality

▪

These statements need to be measurable and a school ought to think about the kinds of evidence they will provide to show that students are achieving these outcomes. Throughout the WASC process a school is asked to reflect on the extent to which the school’s programs and services support achievement of these important outcomes.

Global Competencies

A school’s mission, vision, belief statements and school wide learner outcomes demonstrate how a school supports students in becoming globally competent. It is important that the school’s beliefs in this area are developed collaboratively and are appropriate for the school’s context.

WASC’s beliefs about global competencies are listed below. ▪

Apply knowledge and skills; research current global issues; integrated disciplines ▪

Interdependence (i.e., economic, political, social, environmental) ▪

Understanding multiple perspectives---Building relationships ▪

Valuing diversity — Belong while being different ▪

Communication: multilingual literate, technology ▪

Responsible service and action: local and global ▪

Ability to function in interdependent world— “urban magnets”

A school is not expected to mirror these statements. What is expected is that a school has thought about this issue deeply and has come up with its own words to express its beliefs.

Schoolwide Action Plan

At the heart of the WASC process is the schoolwide action plan. At the end of each stage in the WASC process a school is asked to update its plan based on the new findings it has gathered. There are some important pieces to remember about this plan.

● It is created from a collaborative, data guided deep dive into the needs of learners in the school.

● It is a plan that spans the whole school; it is the school’s development plan

● It is student centered

● It shows links to the school’s purpose and its schoolwide learner outcomes

● It has a good amount of detail so that it is easily understood and executed by faculty and staff

● It is revised regularly based on data so that it remains current.

There are samples in the appendices that will give you an idea of the amount of detail needed. Please remember to create a template that suits your school’s purpose.

Child Protection

A key expectation is that a school has a robust set of policies in place that are supported by procedures. Faculty and staff are expected to undergo screening prior to being hired and ongoing training for faculty, staff, parents and students is also an expectation. The includes definitions of child abuse and how to report suspected cases. The physical plant ought to be designed, furbished with child protection in mind. Areas such as line of sight, separate bathrooms for staff and students and sufficient lighting are all considerations. WASC will also ask if the school has a child protection lead in place, and how does the school screen visitors and volunteers. There are additional resources in the appendices.

Governance

It is important that a school has a functioning governing body in place and that its job scope is clearly articulated. The governing body may serve in an advisory capacity or serve as a board of trustees depending on the ownership and nature of the school. What is important is that this body operates in a governance function, its interface with the school’s leadership is clearly laid out and respected, that it operates from a clear set of policies and procedures and that it functions under the tenets of good governance practice- regular training, self appraisal, goal setting. There are useful resources in the appendices.

Basecamp

Basecamp is now available to WASC’s entire international member school community. This communication tool provides an added benefit to our international member institutions with resources that will allow them to network, collaborate and share best practices with colleagues and like-minded professionals in the virtual space, and in ways that lead to organizational improvement.

Some of the features of Basecamp include:

● Real-time collaboration with colleagues on issues that impact international education leaders

● The ability to be grouped into teams that provide opportunities to directly connect with those who are at the same place in the WASC process (applicant schools, schools in self-study, and preparing for mid-cycle)

● Access to practical resources that guide members throughout the process

● An Events page that allows members to see upcoming training opportunities and other WASC related events.