Pub. 1 2011-2012 Issue 2

14 UPDATE Accreditation By Rick Kempton, Director | Noah Webster Academy O n December 5, 2011, the Board of Trust- ees of the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) approved bylaws that establish NWAC as an accredi- tation division of AdvancED. Combined, NWAC and Ad- vancEDnow serve nearly 30,000 public and private schools and districts in over 70 countries. By joining together, AdvancED and NWAC expand their capacity and resources to deliver accredi- tation, school improvement services and provide additional support to schools committed to continuous improvement. Through this global network, education providers of all types benefit from inter- national recognition, shared standards of educational excellence, a unified, clear and powerful accreditation process and external evaluation focused on continuous improvement. Additionally, all schools in the AdvancED network, including NWAC schools, will have access to the Adaptive System of School Improvement Support Tools (ASSIST), a state-of-the-art, web- enabled platform for accreditation and school improvement. “Never before in our nation’s history has the need and desire to improve schooling been greater. By joining forces, AdvancED and the Northwest Accreditation Com- mission recognize that together we can strengthen our capacity to help schools, systems, and other education providers improve the quality of education afforded children throughout our expanded net- work,” said Dr. Mark Elgart, President and CEO of AdvancED. 

 What does this mean for Utah’s charter schools? Georgia Loutensock (Utah’s NWAC State Director for accreditation) attended sev- eral meetings with other state AdvancED accreditation directors to discuss this topic. Over the next few months Georgia has scheduled meetings for all schools scheduled for their full team visit during the 2012-13 school year. The training will focus on: 1. Standards 2. Visit protocols 3. Online “ASSIST” program Utah schools that are currently scheduled for their full team Accreditation visit in the 2012-13 school year have the option of following the current NWAC protocols/ process or the new AdvancED protocols/ process. Starting with the 2013-2014 school year all schools following this year will be required to follow the AdvancED process. There are two significant differences be- tween a full team visit using NWAC pro- tocols/processes and the new AdvancED protocols/processes: 1. AdvancED’s new system will allow for these materials and narratives to be gathered/submitted online 2. The AdvancED process has 5 stan- dards and 33 indicators with rubrics There will also be some Utah-specific assurances. Georgia is currently working with Marlies Burns’ office to ensure any portions of the newAdvancED process ap- propriately apply to Utah charter schools. I believe that this is a positive change for the accreditation process and will greatly benefit Utah’s charter schools. If you have any questions or are interested in a list with Utah Charter Schools which are scheduled for their full team Accreditation visit during the 2012-13 school year please contact Georgia Loutensock or Rick Kempton Georgia Loutensock Utah’s NWAC State Director for Accreditation georgia.loutensock@schools. utah.gov (801) 538-7789 Rick Kempton Director at Noah Webster Academy, Member Utah’s Accreditation Commission rkempton@mynwa.us (801) 426-6624