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Using the Index of Education Quality to Improve Schools and Systems
In response to a need for schools and school systems to have a deeper understanding of their effectiveness, in the 2013-14 school year, AdvancED® introduced an innovative and state-of-the-art framework to measure institutional performance. The Index of Education Quality™ (IEQ™) provides schools and systems with 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. This year AdvancED has added a network score to provide context to the IEQ for each school or system. The AdvancED Network (AEN) score is an average of the IEQ scores for schools and systems in the AdvancED Network that completed an External Review during the previous year using the same Standards. This new score will allow schools to see where they fall on the continuum of similar schools in the AdvancED Network.
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 complete their Accreditation Progress Report during the two years following their External Review, they document these changes and submit them to AdvancED to be re-evaluated. The school’s IEQ scores are then updated to reflect this progress and guide them in the next steps on their improvement journey.
Schools and systems will continue to receive a comprehensive report of the team’s findings with recognition of Powerful Practices, Opportunities for Improvement and Improvement Priorities 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 Mary Kay at mkirkland@advanc-ed.org or 888.413.3669, ext. 5657.
Mary Kay Kirkland,
Director, AdvancED Utah
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Real Time Learning, Real Time Impact
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Have you ever thought about visiting another school as a member on an AdvancED External Review Team? We invite you to engage in real time learning and make a real time impact by serving on an External Review Team for a school in Utah. Educators from around the world rate their service on an External Review Team as one of the most powerful professional development experiences in their careers. Past team members have found the experience to be both rewarding and inspiring. The time commitment varies based on whether you serve on an External Review for a school or school system. Whichever review you serve on, your expertise and knowledge will be invaluable. You also can use this experience as an opportunity to prepare for your school’s accreditation review. To assist you with gaining insight from and giving the most to the External Review, trained Lead Evaluators are assigned to each review to assist, support and coach the team throughout the process. We are always looking for motivated and engaged educators to serve on our External Review Teams. In Utah, it takes over 300 educators a year to staff all of the External Review Teams needed. If you are interested in this great opportunity, please contact Bonnie Mortensen, the Administrative Assistant for the AdvancED Utah Managing Office at bmortensen@advanc-ed.org
or 888.413.3669, ext. 5627.
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Over Six Million Surveys Completed
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More than six million students, parents and teachers have completed AdvancED surveys about the quality of their educational institutions. This represents a total of over 169 million ratings and open-ended responses that AdvancED has collected to questions about the experience stakeholders have had with their school or school system. The surveys are available to AdvancED accredited institutions for free through ASSIST™ (Adaptive System of School Improvement Support Tools)—AdvancED’s web-based school improvement system.
The AdvancED surveys have been administered across the United States and around the world by public and private schools and systems. The surveys are offered both online and in paper version and in multiple languages. Additionally, the survey content is customized for students, parents and staff at all grade levels. Analysis of their data by each institution yields a rich source of information and insights into the opportunities institutions have to improve and deliver high quality education that meets the needs and expectations of their constituents. If you haven’t done so, please login to ASSIST today to begin using your surveys or to access the data from surveys already completed.
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How are we doing in Utah since Northwest merged with AdvancED® in 2012? Here is an update of the progress made since we made the change. In 2012-13, Utah schools up for accreditation had the option to complete their External Review under the old accreditation process or to move to the new AdvancED process. Thirty-one of the schools in Utah chose to be accredited through the AdvancED process in 2013. Those schools are now in the process of completing their Accreditation Progress Report through ASSIST.
In 2013-14, our first full year of accreditation through AdvancED, sixty-three Utah schools completed the accreditation process through AdvancED. Of those schools, the average IEQ™ score in Utah for the year was 286. During that school year, the External Review Teams completed 2895 interviews and 1538 observations using the Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool™ (eleot™).
From the 2013-14 reviews, the three Indicators that our Utah schools scored highest on were Indicator 3.9, which involves a formal structure whereby each student is well known by an adult advocate, with an average score of 3.43. Indicator 2.3, which ensures that the governing body provides sufficient autonomy for school leaders to operate effectively, with an average score of 3.31; and Indicator 4.3 which indicates that the school provides facilities that are healthy, clean and safe for students and staff with an average Indicator score of 3.28.
The three Indicators that Utah schools scored lowest on were Indicator 5.3 which is states that professional and support staff are being trained in the evaluation, interpretation and use of data, with an average Indicator score of 2.05; Indicator 5.4 which shows that the school is engaged in a continuous process to determine improvement in student learning and readiness for success at the next level, with an average score of 2.30. Indicator 5.2, that professional and support staff continuously collect, analyze and apply learning from data, had an average score of 2.36.
For the 2014-15 school year, we have 76 External Reviews scheduled. Stay tuned for an update at the end of the year about the progress we have made on our IEQ and Indicator scores in Utah schools.
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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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