Heard School System Seeks District Accreditation

(Franklin, GA) — In an effort to continue their success, the Heard County School System is in the early stages of seeking District Accreditation with AdvancED.

Currently, all schools are individually accredited through AdvancED and the Georgia Accrediting Commission.

AdvancED is the largest community of education professionals in the world. They are a non-profit, non-partisan organization that conducts rigorous, on-site external reviews of PreK-12 schools and school systems to ensure that all students realize their full potential.

What are the Benefits of District Accreditation?

• Supports the work of school districts committed to developing and implementing system-wide plans for improving student learning and aligning the district’s plans with school plans

• Provides the school system and community with validation and recognition for improvement efforts and recommendations from an external team of professionals

• Supports the work of school districts in providing the leadership and support required to engage in a system wide process of continuous improvement.

How does a District Achieve Accreditation?

Using a set of rigorous research-based standards and evidence based criteria, AdvancEd examines the whole institution – the polices, programs, practices, learning conditions and cultural context to determine how well the parts work together to carry out the district’s vision and meet the needs of every learner.

District accreditation requires commitment from the system’s leadership and school board.

The school system and its schools must have in place a quality continuous improvement process focused on improving student learning.

In addition, there must be a commitment to achieving and maintaining the following requirements:

• Demonstration of compliance with the Accreditation Standards

• Identification and illustration of the system’s framework for continuous improvement

• Evidence showcased of methods being employed to monitor and maintain quality assurance

The External Review Team will conduct their visit of Heard County Schools from February 17 – 20, 2019.

During the visit the team will gather data and evidence by interviewing a wide range of system leaders and school level and community stakeholders, as well as conducting classroom visits.

“We are looking forward to all of our stakeholders being able to share the role they play in the success of our school system,” says Superintendent Rodney Kay.

“Community partners, regional partners, parent organizations, and many other stakeholder relationships play a vital role in the success of our school system. The accreditation process will give us an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the things we are doing extremely well in our school system, and it will also give us an opportunity to see areas where we can continue to grow.”