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.