Fall 2001 Issue

The Way I See It The North Central Association has a long history of basing school accreditation on the premise that each institution should be judged in light of its stated mission and purpose. Accreditation protects the public trust by verifying that schools are what they say they are and do what they say they do. As education has changed over the years, our Commission has created different categories of membership with similar membership standards and protocols.

Today, the Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement accredits several kinds of schools. The categories for membership reflect the variety of schooling opportunities available. The membership categories include:

• Elementary, middle level, secondary, and unit schools (private, public, and charter; residential, correctional, and many other kinds of schools)
• Vocational and adult schools, postsecondary
• College preparatory schools
• Special purpose schools (including distance education, supplemental, early childhood, and comprehensive schools)

NCA CASI has experienced growth in all of our membership categories. I see this as evidence that schooling opportunities are increasingly diverse. The opportunities are likely to become more diverse in the future. As more kinds of schools are created, it will become increasingly difficult for parents and the public to determine the quality of school experience that a particular school offers. Accreditation will become increasingly valuable to schools as a way of ensuring the public that high standards are in place, that student performance is being monitored, and that students are being pressed to achieve academically.

NCA CASI relies on 100 years of accreditation experience to determine appropriate membership and improvement criteria. Each category determines its own standards and criteria. There is interest in keeping the criteria high so that accreditation reflects a high quality school.

The Tough Part of School Improvement: Knowing What You Know

The challenge in implementing effective school improvement has never been that we don't know enough. It has always been that we are challenged to organize what we do know into useful information. Schools today have dozens of indicators that reveal their student body characteristics, and they have assessment results that indicate how well the students are performing. One of the challenges of effective school improvement early in the improvement cycle is to analyze the data sufficiently so that a rigorous and appropriate school improvement plan can be developed. A second challenge is to analyze the implementation of interventions during years two and three so that adjustments can be made if needed.

When years three, four, and five of the school improvement cycle roll around, schools assess their students to see if the interventions are having any effect. By year five, the interventions may have been modified somewhat to yield better results. At any rate, the bottom line in Performance Accreditation is that attending an NCA school can make a difference in students' performance.

In addition to being a data driven and results-oriented, the NCA CASI Performance Accreditation Framework gives schools the opportunity to become self reflective about their capacity to implement school improvement. Staff members complete the NCA CASI Capacity Assessment Instrument to assess the school's capacity for school improvement. The results of the Capacity Assessment Instrument are verified when the peer review team visits the school. The Capacity Assessment Instrument is a self-reflection tool.

Systemic Change Fits Needs of Whole District

All of NCA's school improvement materials are designed to help schools manage the data they already gather. Schools are best served when they put all of their school improvement initiatives into one school improvement plan. Many schools are experiencing the momentum and synergy of systemic change through district accreditation. School leaders who want to lead all of their schools through a shared school improvement process may learn more about district accreditation from their state office.

It's a great time to be in education. The profession has more resources and knowledge than ever before, and we know how to make a difference in education school by school. NCA has learned how to make a difference through results, and students in NCA schools are the benefactors of what we have learned. Take pride in your accreditation; it is becoming even more valuable as education dynamics change.

Sincerely,

Kenneth F. Gose
Executive Director
NCA Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement