Think Dare Share #2: School Accreditations - A shared reflective process

JUIN 2018

#2

Think Dare Share La newsletter pédagogique de l’École Jeannine Manuel

SCHOOL ACCREDITATIONS - A SHARED REFLECTIVE PROCESS Depuis sa création en 1954, l’École Jeannine Manuel noue des liens officiels avec des organismes nationaux et internationaux.

Gages d’excellence et d’ouverture, ces partenariats témoignent de l’engagement de l’école à proposer un enseignement novateur et soucieux du bien-être de ses élèves dans le meilleur environnement possible pour l’ensemble de sa communauté éducative. En encourageant l’innovation, la recherche et l’auto-évaluation, ils inscrivent notre établissement dans une dynamique de perfectionnement continu fidèle au growth mindset à l’œuvre dans nos classes.

L’ÉCOLE JEANNINE MANUEL, L’ÉTABLISSEMENT SCOLAIRE FRANÇAIS LE PLUS ACCRÉDITÉ Son contrat d’association avec l’État marque la reconnaissance de l’École par le ministère de l’Éducation nationale depuis soixante ans. Au plan international, l’École fut l’une des premières écoles associées de l’UNESCO et parmi les premières World Schools du Baccalauréat International (IB).

Depuis 2014, l’École est en outre accréditée par le Council of International Schools (CIS) et le New England

Association of Schools and Colleges

(NEASC). Ces agences mondialement reconnues définissent une grille de critères d’excellence pédagogique et d’ouverture internationale. Dans la mesure où ces critères s’inscrivent naturellement dans la mission de notre école, il nous a paru cohérent de solliciter leur agrément formel. Pour les familles amenées à scolariser leurs enfants dans un pays qu’ils connaissent peu, ces accréditations sont un gage lisible et rassurant ; nous avons voulu que l’École Jeannine Manuel puisse figurer au premier plan de leur choix. Ses campus de Paris et de Lille sont les seuls établissements en France à avoir obtenu l’ensemble de ces accréditations.

Basé aux Pays-Bas, CIS est l’organisme d’accréditation scolaire international le plus prestigieux et NEASC, basé aux États-Unis, est l’une des rares agences américaines pouvant accréditer des écoles hors de l’Amérique du Nord. En novembre prochain, notre école s’engagera dans le nouveau cycle d’accréditation de ces deux organismes, d’une durée de cinq ans.

Elle accueillera donc leurs consultants.

Presque simultanément, elle sera amenée à renouveler l’accréditation du Baccalauréat International en recevant une visite de l’IB. Comme le souligne NEASC dans la description de son programme, l’école est une learning community, et l’engagement et l’implication de chacun sont primordiaux dans ces processus.

À QUOI SERVENT LES ACCRÉDITATIONS ET COMMENT SE DÉROULENT-ELLES ?

Fruit du dialogue entre l’école et les organismes accréditeurs, un processus d’accréditation est avant tout un exercice stratégique structuré qui engage l’École dans une réflexion approfondie sur ses pratiques et leur perfectionnement.

Mêlant une approche holistique de l’organisme observateur et une auto-

évaluation de l’école, cet exercice anime un cycle vertueux de transformation.

Il incarne ainsi un véritable growth mindset institutionnel qui fait écho à celui des élèves et mobilise l’ensemble de l’École dans une dynamique de progrès où élèves et adultes forment ensemble une communauté d’apprenants.

Après une période d’observation détaillée, au cours de laquelle les représentants de chaque organisme vérifient que l’établissement respecte un certain nombre de principes, l’école obtient ou confirme une accréditation qui témoigne de l’adéquation de son enseignement et de son fonctionnement non seulement aux exigences de ces agences, mais surtout à la mission qu’elle a elle-même définie. Le plus souvent, les observations sont réalisées par les représentants venant d’autres établissements accrédités.

CIS Preparatory Evaluation & NEASC Learning Principles Review Visit Combined visit Paris and Lille from November 11th to November 16th, 2018 IB Diploma Evaluation • November 21st - 23rd 2018: Paris • November 26th - 28th 2018: Lille

Accréditations spécifiques à notre école de Londres

WHY ACCREDITATION? Beyond increasing our visibility as an international school, the process of accreditation serves as a continuous wheel of improvement or transformation, thereby enabling us to implement change on a systemic rather than incremental basis. The key drivers of our pedagogy have always been coherence and innovation. The five-year cycle of our accreditation agencies provides structure to our internal reflection and allows the whole school community to reflect on where we currently are - as well as where we aspire to be - as a learning community. Beyond teachers and administrators, every member of the school community is involved in accreditation, from students to parents to community organisations.

Each stakeholder has its part to play in the reflective conversations used to inform the accreditation process. Of its five accreditations, our school will be initiating or undergoing re-evaluation for three this year: the IB, CIS and NEASC. DIFFERENT PROTOCOLS, ONE GOAL: EXCELLENCE Whether it is the International Baccalaureate Organization, the Council of International Schools or the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, all three are committed to high quality international education. CIS and NEASC have both recently developed two new accreditation protocols, CIS International Accreditation 2016 and NEASC ACE, designed to replace the former jointly developed 8th edition.

Although distinctively different, they both evaluate a number of common areas and aim to support school development through the accreditation process. Together, CIS and NEASC have created an integrated approach, each focusing on different dimensions within a school, allowing for its members to gain accreditation from both agencies.

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NEASC ACE & CIS

NEASC’s ACE acronym stands for Learning Architecture, Learning Culture, and Learning Ecology.

Inspired by the latest research in cognitive sciences, and what this research tells us about effective learning, NEASC encourages schools to move towards a more personalized, learningfocused community in order to provide students with the understandings, aptitudes, dispositions, values and competencies needed to address the challenges of today’s world.

The CIS team, during their visit to École Jeannine Manuel, will ensure

• Architecture of learning defines what learners learn, why they learn it, how they learn it, how learning is assessed and to what extent learners are able to choose their own learning.

• Culture of learning defines the community’s beliefs about the conditions that allow effective learning, the norms and core values to which is adheres as well as the impact leadership, governance and staff have on the learning community.

• Ecology of Learning defines the physical and social/emotional space where learning occurs.

Rather than focusing mainly on academic outcomes and test results, ACE encourages schools to develop their own definition of learning, one that will guide school transformation into a thriving and reflective learning community. Closely aligned to our own “Student First” policy and our constantly evolving pedagogical methods aiming at fostering student engagement and growth, the ACE protocol encourages us to pursue our student-centered approach to learning. During their visit at École Jeannine Manuel, the NEASC members will be focusing much of their attention on the observation of learning, shadowing students through their learning experience.

As part of the synchronized accreditation with NEASC, CIS recognition is also a marker of excellence in teaching and learning as well as in the more operational aspects of a school.

Governance, student well-being, staffing, and premises are all essential components of a learning community.

that all these fundamental operational requirements - without which a learning community cannot exist - are satisfied.

CIS visitors will be focusing notably on key aspects such as strategic planning child protection policies, safety and security, as well as the operational aspects of our boarding house in Lille.

WHAT DOES THE CIS/NEASC EVALUATION PROCESS INVOLVE? Accredited by CIS and NEASC in 2014, École Jeannine Manuel will soon be entering its next five-year self-study accreditation cycle beginning with a short focused visit (the CIS Preparatory Evaluation/NEASC Learning Principles Visit) which will launch a formal internal reflection process and which will be followed by a larger synchronised CIS Team Evaluation/NEASC External Review Visit twelve to fourteen months later. The final accreditation validation will follow soon thereafter.

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The International Baccalaureate (IB)

Engaging the entire school community, the IB diploma programme evaluation supports school efforts to continuously improve the quality of the programme and results in a clear plan for next steps and future actions. In preparation for the IB team’s visit, the programme’s teachers, support staff and administrators have been engaged in a series of in-depth discussions regarding planning, curriculum writing, pedagogy, and assessment methods since the last evaluation. The school leadership is in charge of organising the visit as well (below) Last November, an accreditation meeting took place with most of the IB teachers to prepare the IB team’s visit.

HIGHLIGHTS ON A FEW BENEFITS SO FAR Thanks in part to the last accreditation cycle, the school has seen transformations that have benefitted all, especially the students. These are but a few of the recent changes, spurred by the accreditation process, but not done solely for accreditation purposes.

Student Experience Following its accreditation by CIS and NEASC, École Jeannine Manuel has awarded a High School Diploma to its graduates. Symbolizing the international mindset of the school, this diploma is recognized by American universities as an achievement of academic success.

«The IB programme requires we commit to a continuous cycle of reflection and self-improvement, which is an approach the École The IB visit, which will take place in Jeannine Manuel has always November, is meant to complement embraced. I am grateful for evidence provided with the self-study the very hardworking and and allows programme representatives committed team of IB teachers, to get a first-hand look at the school. Just administrators and support staff like for CIS and NEASC, visitors will meet who have continued to work with teachers, school leaders, students, together to provide feedback, parents and members of the governing creative suggestions and body, as well as observe classes and constructive criticism for how the view the school facilities. The aim of programme can better serve the the visit is to confirm the effectiveness whole IB community. I am also of the programme implemented by the very thankful for all of the time school as described in the school’s selfand energy parents and students study. have put into the self-study process.»

Le processus d’accréditation inscrit notre établissement Sabine Hurley dans une dynamique de perfectionnement continu fidèle as responding to the recommendations included in the final evaluation report.

au growth mindset à l’œuvre dans nos classes.

Recognizing the role of students as stakeholders in the school’s community, a Student Council (in Paris and in Lille) was elected, allowing increased student representation in the school.

Security The introduction of Lockdown and Lockout drills and procedures, initiated before the dramatic terrorist events in France, provide a means for teachers and staff to safeguard students during times of emergency or crisis. In the aftermath of the terrorist events, when these procedures became required in all French schools, our teachers and staff, as well as the students themselves, were already well attuned to these drills.

New badges and entry regulations have enhanced security on our four campuses.

New communication tools New tools have been introduced to keep every group within the school community informed of its activities, including a forthcoming dedicated website for alumni, Welcome Guides for new staff members, and these newsletters!

« Le processus d’accréditation engendre une perturbation bienveillante dans notre environnement quotidien ; ces regards extérieurs, aux exigences clairement définies, constituent un moyen supplémentaire de continuer à se poser les bonnes questions pour encore mieux préparer les enfants qui nous sont confiés à un monde en perpétuelle évolution ».

Jérôme Giovendo “ Through the accreditation process, we are encouraged to reflect on where we - as a learning community - are, where we aspire to be as well as what might be drivers of change or obstacles for change. Moving away from an environment with teachers on one side and students on the other, ACE furthers the development of a learning community where all stakeholders – students, teachers, parents, staff and leaders – are “learners”. Such an approach nurtures growth mindset principles central to our pedagogy and fosters life-long learning for all”.

Natalie La Balme

ACCREDITATION TIMELINES

ACE APPLICATION

ACE FOUNDATION STANDARDS VISIT

November 2018

2020

ACE LEARNING PRINCIPLES VISIT / CIS PREPARATORY EVALUATION

ACE EXTERNAL REVIEW VISIT / CIS TEAM EVALUATION

INTERNAL REFLECTION (12-14 months)

IB DIPLOMA PROGRAMME EVALUATION ACCREDITATION VALIDATION

ACCREDITATION VALIDATION

ACE - LEARNING PRINCIPLES

LEARNING ARCHITECTURE

LEARNING CULTURE

LEARNING ECOLOGY