System Accreditation Overview

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WASC SYSTEM ACCREDITATION Overview

Essential to a school’s evaluation process under the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC), is an assessment of the vision, mission, programs, services, organizational structures, operations and resources they deliver to support student achievement and success.

Definition WASC defines an Education System as schools that affiliate with a central organization.

Examples include a corporation, non-profit organization, religious schools operating within a defined faith-based organization.

Typical characteristics of such an organization include: Operating as a legal entity Maintain a single governing body Support more than one affiliated school Maintain centralized set of education services The System Accreditation Process takes into account individual schools connected through an Education Management Group (EMG) or System, operating under a common mission and purpose, supported through a comprehensive set of shared resources. EMG schools work together to advance the mission and purpose through shared resources within their local communities served.

EMG schools ensure consistency and alignment such as organization, curriculum and instruction methodologies, assessment and evaluation processes, resource allocation and continuous improvement plans.

System Accreditation accomplishes the WASC Focus on Learning Self-Study from a system point of view. It recognizes their unifying components and focuses on consistency and quality of aligned resources supporting each school and their local communities served by their schools.

System Initial Accreditation Process

The initial accreditation process supports EMGs seeking accreditation for all system schools.

The initial accreditation process maximizes WASC and system group resources to reduce repetition and redundancy of analysis of centralized systems and services provided by an EMG to their affiliated schools.

The initial accreditation process includes an initial self-analysis of the EMG functions, services and supports provided to each of its schools. It also includes a brief demographic overview of each school.

System Initial Accreditation Outcome

Will result in one System Initial Visit VC will generate one System report that accounts for all schools Accreditation will be for system and all schools

Step One EMG submits System Application and nonrefundable application fee.

EMG will also provide list of each school that includes: -School Name -Mailing Address -Site Address -Primary Contact -Secondary Contact WASC staff will manually create account for each school EMG submits application fee

Step Two Application is assigned to WASC Director who will meet with system to discuss process and develop adapted protocols based on the EMG structure and operations System completes the initial visit system report Report includes brief overview and unique aspects of schools and communities served

Step Three System hosts initial visit -Review includes system services (organization, governance, curriculum, teaching and learning, assessment, resources) Develop agenda to conduct brief school site visits -Based on size of system – a stratified sampling of school visits may be considered EMG and WASC Director identify date to host initial visit EMG and WASC Director work to identify process to include schools

Step Four System uses current strategic or annual plan as their WASC Action Plan

Self-Study Process

The following process serves as a framework for conducting a WASC self-study from a system perspective. The process aligns with the WASC Focus on Learning protocols and expectations, adapted to the organization’s structure and system of supports provided to their schools.

System Accreditation Outcomes

Will result in one System Self-Study report from a System Perspective -Synthesis of school findings rolled into one report / noting any school specific variances System Strategic Plan serves as WASC action plan

Accreditation Process

1. EMG will facilitate the self-study process with their individual schools while leveraging the alignment and supports from the system level. a. EMG designates one or more WASC Coordinators to facilitate process i. WASC Coordinators work with EMG to develop Executive Summary 1. Executive Summary includes: Brief History, Mission, Purpose, Enrollment/Achievement Data, Overview of services provided to schools, EMG identified strengths, areas for growth 2. EMG assists schools in ensuring they follow the expectations of the FOL process a. Provide schools assistance in: i. Organizing themselves at school level to complete self-study ii. Reviewing previous growth areas, analysis of school profile data, evaluation of levels of effectiveness of WASC criteria, identify strengths and areas for growth b. Schools use “Self-Study Findings” document / or equivalent to document designed by EMG to record self-evaluation and findings. i. These will serve as evidence of school level participation 3. EMG collects and synthesizes findings into EMG level self-study report a. Includes EMG level areas of strength and priority growth areas i. If there are any significant variances in findings by school, these can be called out in report / action plan ii. System uses their own Strategic Planning document as their Action Plan

System Self-Study Key Concepts for Process

EMG System Self-Study Report Format