On November 1, all schools and school systems in Wyoming must update the following documents in ASSIST:

• Executive Summary
• Wyoming Department of Education Assurances
• Plans and Goals

AdvancED is all about continuous improvement and with that comes accreditation of quality schools and systems. These annual reports should be useful tools for schools and school systems as they reflect upon what has worked and what needs to be improved. 

AdvancED Wyoming does not require the use of the ASSIST Goal Builder program. We allow you to use whatever continuous improvement plan that works best for you. All a school or school system has to do is upload the most current plan as an attachment to Question #20 of the WDE Assurances.  If you were not aware that you could do this, please remember that you have this flexible option.  Goal Builder is not required. 

SPECIAL EXCEPTION:  The November 1 reports are not required of any of the schools and their system who hosted an on-site External Review in October, 2014.  All of the November 1 reports were included in the Accreditation Report, so that work will have already been completed for the External Review.

September means Back-to-School, Wyoming football and the AdvancED Wyoming Fall Continuous Improvement Conference.  Join us in Cheyenne at the Little America Hotel & Resort, September 29-30. 

Heidi Hayes Jacobs is Monday’s keynote speaker and will be on hand all day to answer questions and present additional breakout sessions.  Heidi comes to us thanks to GEAR Up Wyoming.  Thank you, GEAR Up!

In addition to Dr. Jacobs’ words of wisdom, the TIE Network also will be presenting nearly twenty different sessions for us.  TIE is an expert in integrating technology into to the educational experience and using the Common Core State Standards.  Much of what TIE supports and teaches dovetails nicely into what Dr. Jacobs will discuss with us. 

Bring your laptops!  The AdvancED Wyoming Fall Continuous Improvement Conference will be paperless--as in no handouts will be provided onsite.  Instead, an email will be sent a few days prior to the Conference with a link to all of the handouts. This is sent so everyone can access all of the handouts; or if you would prefer to have hard copies, you may print them for yourself. Bookmark the handouts link and be ready to work online with the presenters during the various sessions of the Conference. 

Register now for the AdvancED Wyoming Fall Continuous Improvement Conference.

AdvancED regularly uses data and feedback to continually improve—just as all vibrant, successful, effective organizations should.  Due to these frequent adjustments and enhancements, one must keep up-to-date with what AdvancED is doing to help institutions improve. 

Ways to keep current on AdvancED Accreditation Processes and Protocols are to read the  monthly AdvancED Wyoming newsletter, stop by the AdvancED Wyoming Depot Café and attend the two AdvancED Wyoming Continuous Improvement Conferences.

This year’s fall conference has many different AdvancED sessions presented by our AdvancED Wyoming Lead Evaluators.  The Wyoming Lead Evaluators know Wyoming;, they know its folks and they live the AdvancED Accreditation Processes and Protocols year in and year out.  Come hear what AdvancED is doing now!  REGISTER HERE!

Do you ever wonder, “How good is good?"  How do Wyoming schools and school systems compare to others in the nation or around the world?  Wonder no more.  Attend the AdvancED Fall Conference session entitled AdvancED Wyoming Data Chat—How’s Wyoming Measuring Up.  It is presented twice--once each day of the conference. 

This session is meant to provide raw data and allow discussion to ensue as to what the data shows and why. In addition, the discussion should focus on how AdvancED Wyoming and the Wyoming institutions can improve. 

Last year AdvancED introduced a new framework for diagnosing and revealing institutional performance called the Index of Education Quality (IEQ).  The IEQ is comprised of three domains of performance: 1) the impact of teaching and learning on student performance; 2) the leadership capacity to govern; and 3) the use of resources to support and optimize learning.

Institutions now receive an IEQ score in association with accreditation.  This new framework recognizes and supports the journey of continuous improvement.  An institution’s IEQ is a starting point for continuous improvement. The IEQ is not a static score.  Once school systems address Improvement Priorities (previously known as Required Actions), the AdvancED Managing Office in conjunction with the School System Accreditation Division in Tempe, AZ will review actions taken to address the Improvement Priorities and could possibly upgrade a district’s IEQ score.
 
The overall AEN (AdvancED Network) average IEQ is 283.  What is your system’s score? Would you like to calculate your IEQ score based on your Self Assessment, Stakeholder Feedback and Student Performance Diagnostics?  If so, contact Geri Fitzgerald at 307.399.9819, and she can help you do so very easily.  Why not check your school and school system IEQ annually?

Even though we are entering the third year in which Wyoming has participated in AdvancED School System Accreditation as opposed to school accreditation, there still seems to be a  need to understand the full power of School Systems Accreditation and what it is all about.

All of us in Wyoming “cut our teeth” on school accreditation.  We know that protocol like the back of our hands.  But what Dr. Bohling and Joe Simpson realized several years ago is that we were missing something very impactful by only looking at schools.  The driving force in any school system is the efficacy of the system itself.  Dr. Bohling and Joe Simpson asked, “Why not review the entire system within which the schools are to function?” Thus began the use of AdvancED School System Accreditation in Wyoming.

The work that is to be performed each year at the school level is meant entirely for the system administrators to monitor and communicate with each school about the results.  Each school’s work is more of a “self-reflection” and starting point for communication with the system about areas in which the school is doing well and areas that need improvement.

The work that the system does each year is what primes the system for a high IEQ score and AdvancED Accreditation.  No longer does an Accreditation Review mean hours of extra work for teachers at each school.  Instead, school system office personnel must know the AdvancED Standards for Quality School Systems well and be prepared, at any given time, to show how the system is meeting each of the Standards, meeting each of the Standards’ Indicators and to what level of quality.

The system is the “engine” that drives everything, therefore that is the entity that AdvancED reviews.  With that in mind, has your system’s Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, and building principals registered for the AdvancED Wyoming Fall Conference?  If not, we would strongly encourage them to do so. 

AdvancED Wyoming has learned that there are twenty-six new Superintendents in place this school year. Congratulations on your new positions.  Please reach out to AdvancED Wyoming and let us know a little bit about you.   How can we help you?  What questions do you have about AdvancED? 

AdvancED Wyoming wants to work with each of you to help you understand AdvancED accreditation and continuous improvement and the role that each of you will play in those processes.  Please contact Geri Fitzgerald at 307.399.9819.  Let’s see how we can help each other on our continuous improvement journey.

One of the best places to start learning about AdvancED is to attend the AdvancED Wyoming Fall Continuous Improvement Conference.  Register Now.

The data compiled last year from all of the classroom observations recorded with the Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool™ (eleot™) found the number one lowest-scoring Learning Environment, not only in Wyoming but throughout the AdvancED Network (AEN), was the Digital Learning environment.  Out of a possible 4.0, Digital Learning scored a 1.81 in Wyoming.

A closer look at how the eleot observes how technology is integrated into the classroom might be helpful.  Users of eleot are looking for the following:

• students using technology to gather, evaluate, and/or use information for learning
• students using technology to conduct research, solve problems, and/or create original works for learning
• students using technology to communicate and work collaboratively for learning

Do these practices occur regularly in every classroom in your district?  If not, why not?  What is holding us back?  Who can help us turn this around? It is time to engage in these crucial conversations.  The eleot is just the tool to start the dialogue.