To make sure you receive future emails,
please add our contact information to your address book or safe list.
|
|
Volume 1 |
|
January/February 2015
|
|
|
Message from Dr. Connie Harris,
AdvancED Arizona Director
Dr. Gary Emanuel Honored with AdvancED Excellence in Education Award for Arizona
AdvancED Arizona's Council unanimously nominated Dr. Gary Emanuel for its coveted 2015 Excellence in Education Award. This state-level award is presented in each state to one individual who has demonstrated unparalleled leadership in promoting and advancing excellence in education.
A review of Dr. Emanuel’s extensive educational and professional experience speaks to the deep knowledge and expertise he has provided in support of students, teachers, leaders and alliance organizations. He spent almost twenty years with the Arizona Department of Education demonstrating his life-long commitment of advocacy and dedication. This is where he began a distinguished relationship with what was then the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI) and is now a part of our larger AdvancED organization.
Since the fall of 1984, Dr. Emanuel has served continuously on what is currently called the Council for Arizona. For three decades he has shared his historical, financial, political and educational wisdom in his service to AdvancED and NCA CASI. He is passionate about his leadership in various roles and organizations as he balances his outreach efforts with his university professor responsibilities, which span over two decades. Congratulations to Dr. Emanuel for an honor that is well-deserved!
He officially will be recognized at the Arizona School Administrators’ Summer Conference luncheon.
Respectfully,
Connie Harris, Ed.D.
Director, AdvancED Arizona
|
|
Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool™
|
The AdvancED Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool™ (eleot™) webpage states:
“Sometimes understanding the big picture involves looking beyond the obvious. Sometimes getting to the root of strengths and weaknesses in the classroom requires asking strategic, in-depth questions and hearing honest answers. Are students immersed in positive learning experiences? Are they connecting content to real-life situations? How do they react to classroom rules and expectations? Are they willing to take risks with learning?
The AdvancED Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool™ (eleot™), a learner-centric, formative tool, answers these questions and more by providing quantifiable data that focuses on students and informs improvement efforts to create the most optimal environments for student learning.”
As a part of the AdvancED External Review, our teams have been certified to use eleot in the data collection process. It has proven to provide valuable information for our teams and for schools’ improvement efforts. This research-based tool is now available for schools to purchase for use beyond the accreditation protocol.
Please visit the Web page to view the Frequently Asked Questions about eleot. Also, Analyzing Results from AdvancED’s Classroom Observation Tool is an AdvancED Source article based on over 45,000 eleot observations; the results are powerful in informing our educational practice. Please be sure to read this article from the Spring 2014 issue from our online publication, The Source.
|
We hope your new year is off to a great start. It is not too early to plan for the 2015–2016 school year. Yes, our AdvancED Arizona Managing Office is looking ahead to next year and beyond.
To this end, if your school or school system is going to be ‘up’ for your five-year External Review next year or the following year, we have professional development training opportunities for you this spring. It generally takes a year to eighteen months to carefully prepare for an Internal Review process and to be ready for the External Review. We strongly encourage you to send key members of your leadership team to this “Spring Training” so they can learn and support each other through this process of continuous improvement and accreditation.
To ensure your success and awareness of all of AdvancED’s new Protocols and online tools, we will be inviting you to “Spring Training: Actively Engaging in the Internal Review Process”. Please watch for an electronic invitation the first week in February so you can register for this important one-day training session. Wednesday, March 25 or Thursday, March 26 are the two dates from which you will be able to select, and the time will be from 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. The fee will be $100 per person and lunch will be provided.
|
Frequently Asked Questions When Completing your APR
|
How do we get started on completing our Accreditation Progress Report?
The Technical Guide: Accreditation Progress Report found on the Accreditation Resources and Tools for Schools Extranet Web page will help you get started. If you need assistance with locating this resource, please contact our office.
I completed the Accreditation Progress Report, but it is showing “In Progress” what do I need to do?
You can work on the report overtime, simply click on the Save and Continue button or Save and Exit button. This will ensure that your work is saved while you are in the process of completing and finalizing the report. You can also cut and paste content from other documents.
When the report is completed, REMEMBER to submit it by clicking on the Submit button at the bottom of your screen. This will automatically send the to our office.
Contact the AdvancED Arizona Managing Office if you have any further questions. The Accreditation Progress Report is due May 1, 2015.
|
Benchmark Data for External Reviews
|
Beginning in the 2013-14 school year, AdvancED introduced a new framework to describe the results of an accreditation review. Did you know that External Review Reports now provide benchmark data too?
Last year AdvancED introduced the Index of Education Quality™ (IEQ™), a formative measure for placement on a continuum of performance, pinpointing areas of success as well as areas in need of improvement. The IEQ™ is comprised of three domains of performance: 1) the impact of teaching and learning on student performance; 2) the capacity of leadership to guide the institution toward the achievement of its vision and strategic priorities; and 3) the use of resources to support and optimize learning. The Index of Education Quality provides a holistic measure of overall performance. By basing the score on data aggregated from each AdvancED Standard and diagnostic results from student, parent and staff/teacher surveys, the IEQ provides a benchmark to assess and guide future decisions. Institutions hosting an External Review now receive an IEQ score when they are accredited.
Additionally, in the fall of 2014, AdvancED began providing benchmark data for each Indicator and for each component of the Evaluative Criteria in the External Review Report. These benchmark data represent the overall averages across the entire AdvancED Network. The AdvancED Network average provides an extraordinary opportunity for institutions to understand their context on a global scale rather than simply compared to a state, region or country. It is important to understand that the AdvancED Network averages are provided primarily to serve as a tool for continuous improvement and not as a measure of quality in and of itself. Benchmark data, when wisely employed, have a unique capacity to help institutions identify and leverage their strengths and areas of improvement to significantly impact student learning.
Together, the IEQ™ and the AdvancED Network benchmark data provide a powerful framework that recognizes and supports the journey of continuous improvement. Institutions can use both as the starting point for continuous improvement.
|
|
|
|
AdvancED, the home of NCA CASI, NWAC and SACS CASI, is dedicated to
advancing excellence in education worldwide.
|
|