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Carole Smith Receives AdvancED Excellence in Education Award
Carole Smith, Superintendent of Portland Public Schools, is this year's recipient of the AdvancED Excellence in Education Award. The Excellence in Education Award is presented in each state to one individual who has demonstrated unparalleled leadership in promoting and advancing excellence in education. Nominees may be teachers, administrators, board of education members or community representatives. Many individuals are making outstanding contributions to our young people and should have the opportunity to be recognized.
The award recognizes an individual who has generated a common vision and mission for higher expectations among students, faculty and the education community; has had a lasting positive impact on student learning; and serves as a role model for future generations of students and educators.
“Carole Smith has brought her recognition of the ways our education system has not served all students well to pursue a vision for more responsive schools that seeks to serve students as individuals while expecting excellence for all,” said Richard Darst, co-director of the AdvancED Oregon Managing Office.
Smith was a long-time commissioner for the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) when it was the Northwest Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities. She worked to develop and promote accreditation standards for all schools as a way to improve schools and achievement for all Oregon children.
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Meet Your AdvancED Council
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The AdvancED Council provides guidance and leadership to the AdvancED Oregon office in the delivery of accreditation, research and professional services. The council also reviews and makes recommendations regarding the accreditation status for schools and school systems. The AdvancED Oregon Council meets twice a year in November and May.
At the November meeting AdvancED goals were discussed including upcoming state-wide training opportunities for both schools and lead evaluators. This year more than 480 team members are needed to complete 80 reviews. AdvancED policies were reviewed and adopted with our change from NWAC to AdvancED. At the May meeting, reports from AdvancED External Reviews will be read and recommendations made to the AdvancED Accreditation Commission which meets in the summer.
The AdvancED Oregon Managing Office would like to convey our appreciation to those who serve on the AdvancED Council. We thank you for the work you do each and every day for the students across Oregon. Click here to view a recent photo of the council, or click here to view, from the AdvancED Oregon Web page, a complete listing our our council along with contact information.
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Index of Education Quality Makes its Debut
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In response to a need for institutions to have a deeper understanding of their institutional effectiveness, AdvancED® introduced in the 2013-14 school year an innovative and state-of-the-art framework to measure institutional performance. The Index of Education Quality™ (IEQ™) provides institutions a holistic measure of their overall performance based on a comprehensive set of indicators and evaluative criteria. As a formative tool for improvement, it graphically pinpoints areas of success as well as areas in need of support and/or focus.
In the past, accreditation reviews resulted in a recommended accreditation status. Labels such as accredited, advised, warned or on probation were used to describe the status of an institution relative to a set of static standards. These labels, with the exception of accredited, were oftentimes perceived as punitive in nature and not as a formative measure by which a school or system could improve. Each institution's initial IEQ score is the starting point for improvement and provides a benchmark to assess and guide the institution. Using the IEQ, institutions have the opportunity to focus their attention, activities and actions resulting in positive impacts and measurable improvements designed to optimize learning for every student. As institutions document these changes and submit them for review, their IEQ scores are updated to reflect this progress and guide the next steps on their improvement journey.
Setting an IEQ score became part of AdvancED’s accreditation process in the fall of 2013. Moving forward, if you have completed an External Review during the 2013-2014, or if your institution belongs to a school system engaged in AdvancED School System Accreditation, you will be able to access your IEQ™ score from the Adaptive System of School Improvement Support Tools (ASSIST™) via a dashboard. From the dashboard you can update your institution’s demographics, see the latest documents/reports for your institution and see your IEQ™ score.
As a reminder, institutions will continue to receive a comprehensive report of the team’s findings with recognition of Powerful Practices, Opportunities for Improvement and Required Actions through the External Review process. The addition of the AdvancED Index of Education Quality further enhances the accreditation process as a lever for continuous improvement and enhances an institution’s understanding of where it is situated on a continuum of performance and improvement. If you have questions about IEQ, please feel free to contact our office.
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Tentative Dates Set for School Training
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AdvancED Oregon has approximately 70 site reviews in 2014-15. If your school is scheduled for a review, please note that there are opportunities for orientation to the new AdvancED Protocol. The training, which discusses the expectations for the reviews, will be conducted on the following dates:
- May 12 - Salem office
- June 9 - Southern Oregon area, location TBD
- August 4 - Greater Portland area, location TBD (We have approximately 23 schools in this area extending to the coast.)
- August 20 - Salem Office
- September 22 - Central Oregon, location TBD (There are five or more schools scheduled in this region.)
- October 6 - Salem Office
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Volunteers for External Review Teams
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We highly recommend that you take the opportunity to serve on an External Review Team prior to the review of your own school. If you would like to serve on a school External Review Team please contact Donna Coutts at our managing office. This is a good opportunity to begin to learn the new AdvancED Protocol. You may reach Donna at 503.480.7210 or by email at dcoutts@advanc-ed.org.
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Check Out AdvancED’s Web Site
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AdvancED’s website – www.advanc-ed.org has lots of valuable information on accreditation and school improvement. It is user-friendly and easy to navigate. There you’ll also find perspectives on education including a section on Issues in Education. Check out AdvancED’s website and find out how we are fostering new ideas and solutions, putting schools and school systems first, advancing excellence and advocating for all learners.
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AdvancED was so excited when the first component of ASSIST™ (AdvancED Adaptive System of School Improvement Support Tools) was launched nearly two years ago. The excitement is still there as our accredited institutions are reaping the benefits of using ASSIST.
Institutions are successfully managing their continuous improvement efforts along with accreditation requirements, because ASSIST successfully merges process, content and technology into a dynamic web-based platform. It supports end-to-end management of both the school improvement and accreditation processes involving all levels of the education system. Since the initial launch, more and more functionality that meets the needs of our accredited institutions has been added.
ASSIST now provides the tools to guide your next internal and external review for accreditation, including Surveys, Student Performance Diagnostic and Stakeholder Feedback Diagnostic tools. In fact, more than two million students, parents and teachers across the United States and around the world have completed AdvancED surveys about the quality of their educational institutions using ASSIST. Institutions also can submit a Self Assessment, Executive Summary and school improvement plan in ASSIST. ASSIST is the future of school improvement, and we invite you to be a champion for educational excellence and log in to ASSIST today!
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Southern Oregon Hosts Education Summit
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Ashland School Foundation recently sponsored an engaging summit in Southern Oregon for gathering input about rethinking the future of high school education and creating new opportunities for youth. The summit focused on gathering information on how education in high schools is evolving. Contact Michelle Zundel, Principal at Ashland High School, for summary notes on this meaningful and creative activity of gathering stakeholder input on improving the future of education.
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AdvancED has gone social with the launch of a Facebook page and YouTube channel, as well as two Twitter handles. You now can connect with AdvancED online in a variety of ways to learn more about recent activities and news. Be sure to connect with us at:
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AdvancED, the home of NCA CASI, NWAC and SACS CASI, is dedicated to
advancing excellence in education worldwide.
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