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continuous improvement

How To Host A Successful Accreditation Review – Part III: The External Review

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Welcome to the third and final article in the accreditation series!  In part I, I discussed three strategies to use during the year PRIOR to your accreditation visit.  In part II, I discussed five strategies to help you manage all tasks that must be completed during the actual year of the accreditation visit.  In this post, I will discuss how to plan for the external review visit.

 

As I mentioned in my last post, my district is accredited through AdvancED, and a major requirement – and the culmination of the district’s work – is the three-day external review.  During the external review, a team of outside educators are on-site to review the district’s work and to determine how well the district meets the accreditation standards.

 

At this point, surveys have been administered, data has been analyzed, reports have been written, and presentations are ready.  So what is left to do for the external review?  Well, the external review is all about managing logistics.  Here are my four methods for getting the external review right:

district accreditation, continuous improvement, education1.  Form stakeholder groups.

For your external review, the review team may want to speak with groups of parent and community stakeholders.  About two and a half weeks before the review, I formed two groups of 10 – 12 prospective partners.  

 

Because people’s schedules change, I planned for slightly bigger groups than I thought I needed.  A good thing I did, since some of my stakeholders cancelled.

 

So where do you find your stakeholders?  Think about existing groups and teams that have community partner members, such as a Career and Technical Education advisory group. Often members of these existing teams will be more than happy to participate in the accreditation process.  And as a bonus, these members are knowledgeable about the district’s work and can provide important – and positive – connections for the review team members.

 

You may find, as I did, that as a central office administrator, you have more access to community partners than to parents.  However, your stakeholder groups need to be a mix of parent and community stakeholders.  Fortunately, the principals at each of our schools were able to provide parent participants.  And when some of the community partners that I had invited were unable to participate, the principals were able to invite additional parents.  (Yay, principals!)

 

  1.  Plan for lodging and food.

You want to make sure that you have nice accommodations for your review team members.  Choose a hotel that also has a conference room that you can reserve for the team’s evening work sessions.

 

The district will have to provide breakfast and dinner at the hotel.  The hotel may be able to handle these needs (free continental breakfasts or hotel restaurant).  If the hotel does not have catering capabilities, you may need to look to an outside caterer.  Sometimes a nearby restaurant can be the answer.  

 

In addition to food and snacks at the hotel, you will need to ensure that the team has refreshments (at the central office and at schools) and lunch.  I utilized our Family and Consumer Sciences program to provide all food requirements while the team was on-site.

district accreditation, school accreditation, education, continuous improvement, external review
Keep your external review team members well-fed!

Make sure you know what your budget is for the team’s accommodations and food.  This area can get expensive in a hurry!  For those of us in small districts, the number of members on the team is likely to be small, but these items can add up quickly.  

 

  1. Transportation and drivers.

Some of your team members may drive in, but others may fly, and for those who fly,  transportation to and from the airport is a must.  In addition, plan for drivers to pick the team up each morning and deliver them to the appropriate district site each day.  

 

I was fortunate with our visit because all of our external team members drove in.  And because all of our schools are on one campus, I did not have to plan for multiple drivers to multiple sites.  

 

  1. Plan your exit meeting.

At the end of the review, the team will typically present their preliminary findings.  If your district has truly been committed to the continuous improvement process, this should be a fun and rewarding meeting.  Invite board members, central office administrators, community partners to the exit meeting.  

 

If possible, ask members of the press to cover the meeting.  It is a great way to generate positive press and generate positive buzz about the work of your district.

 

Then,

CELEBRATE!

 

So there you have it, folks!  If you want a quick reference Hosting a District Accreditation Visit Checklist that brings together all the suggestions from this three-part series, click the link above or click the image below.

Downloadable checklist of accreditation strategies.

 

In case you missed them:

How to Host a Successful Accreditation Visit – Part I:  Prior Year Preparation

How to Host a Successful Accreditation Visit – Part II:   Implementing and Managing a Plan

 

I am sure that next time, I will make some changes and try to improve on our process.  What suggestions do you have for having a successful accreditation visit?  Please share in the comments section!

How to Host a Successful Accreditation Review – Part II Implementing and Managing a Plan

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Click here for part I of the three-part series.

Last post, I shared three ideas to use in the year prior to your accreditation review.  The preparation work done the previous year should provide you with a thorough understanding of all the elements needed in your plan.  Today, I am sharing with you my thoughts on the best strategies for the actual year of the review.

  1.  Create a shared workspace.

You will be creating many documents, generating lots of reports and data, that you will need to share with all members of the district team, as well as the facilitators of the school teams.  I created a folder in Google Drive and shared it with all members of my teams.  This was a straightforward method of collaboration for us.  Your district may have other digital collaboration tools that would work just as well.

 

  1. Use project management strategies.

At the beginning of the school year, I build a project management schedule to keep track of the pieces that make up the accreditation continuous improvement process.  I develop the plan by working backward from the actual date of the review.  

work breakdown structure project management accreditation
Work Breakdown Structure

I need to see the big picture, so I start with sticky notes placed on the wall of my office (work breakdown structure).  One row of sticky notes lists the months of the year; the row underneath lists the task(s) that needs to be completed during the corresponding month.  I like using the sticky note method initially because it allows me to easily rearrange the tasks.  Once I have a few days to ponder the timelines, taking into consideration other events and initiatives underway in the district, I make changes any needed changes.  The sticky notes allow me to do this with ease.  It also requires me to stand up and move around which improves my thinking (I think).

 

Once I am happy with my sticky notes,  I use them to create my work plan in a spreadsheet.  I color-code it and add in meeting dates and times.  This is often one of the first items that I place in a folder that I share with all members of the school teams.  

 

This work plan helps me to see all the trees in the forest, and it is a resource for my school teams, too.  My district follows the AdvancED process, which involves several steps and reports.  Schools and districts have to conduct surveys, analyze various data, create several  documents, and develop improvement and/or strategic plans.  

accreditation, standards, data, stakeholders
Forest of Accreditation.

When developing your plan, it is important to allow enough time for each element.  For instance, surveying stakeholders – parents, students, and staff – takes time, especially the parent surveys.  Determine how much time you think it will take to administer the surveys, then add a week to it.  Trust me on this.

 

But even more than survey administration, the analysis of all the survey data requires a great deal of time.  The sheer amount of data gathered from the surveys is overwhelming.  You might want to double the amount of time that seems reasonable for data analysis.  Yeah, that’s how much data is truly generated.

 

The work plan contained all the dates that I needed to meet with my school facilitators.  This allowed me a formal opportunity to check-in with each school to ensure the teams were on track and on time with all pieces of the processes.  It also provided the school facilitators a chance to bring to my attention any issues they had encountered so that we could develop solutions.  I think that the facilitators also benefited from hearing what and how the other teams were doing.

Without some type of written plan, I don’t think I could have kept track of everything that we had to accomplish throughout the year.  Remember, while this work is occurring, you will still be handling all your normal responsibilities.  Project management tools are key.

 

  1.  Form sub-teams.

In the preparation phase,  you formed a central office team, and now you need to divide the members of this team into sub-teams.  I assign central office team members to each of the accreditation standards.  Those with knowledge of curriculum worked on the teaching and learning standard.  Those whose expertise lay in district support services (e.g., finance, facilities) worked on the resources standard.  

 

I also used these standards teams to assist with all the other parts of the process, too.  The larger central office team was often too big for a work team, but the standards teams consisted of three to five members, a great size for actually accomplishing work.  Each standards team was also responsible analyzing survey data and providing feedback.  

 

The standard teams were also responsible for creating and delivering a short presentation on their assigned standard to the external review committee.    

 

  1.  Utilize current work.

I dislike having to duplicate work.  So whenever possible, we use our current work to address the accreditation tasks.  For example, districts can use their strategic plans, and schools can use their school improvement plans to meet certain requirements.  I utilized a previously written annual report for another requirement, rather than creating an entirely new document.

 

  1.  Determine your writers.

You will need to create or revise several documents, so it is good to determine who your writer(s) will be, and how your team members will assist.  During our process, we created documents for data, both survey and student testing data, and we created a report for our standards assessment.  We also wrote an overview of the district.  

 

Regardless of how many writers you have, you need input and feedback from all members of your team.  I created documents in our shared Google folder for our team members to record their feedback and input.  When it came time to write the reports, much of the information to include in the reports was already developed in these shared documents.  

 

Continuous Improvement Accreditation

These five strategies worked well for us during our accreditation process.  The project management tools allowed me to keep track of where we were in the process and kept us on schedule.  The shared folder for collaboration kept everyone in the loop.

 

I cannot emphasize how important a good central office team is to the accreditation process.  With the first meeting being the exception, all of our meetings were work sessions.  We had homework to finish before our next meeting.  

 

It is also important to have strong school level facilitators.  Our meetings were often progress checks and troubleshooting sessions.  

 

What tools and strategies have you used during the accreditation process?  Please share in the comments section.  

This is part two of a three-part series.  If you missed the first part, you can find it here:   Part I:  Prior Year Preparation.

How to Host a Successful Accreditation Review – Part I: Prior Year Preparation

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My district recently finished up its (re)accreditation visit.  It was a success! Everyone’s hard work paid off, and I think I was able to celebrate and take care of my normal responsibilities for a day and half before an unexpected project landed on my desk.  

Several years ago, our district chose to seek accreditation as a district, rather than each individual school being accredited on its own.  This year was our second time accrediting as a district.

Many districts opt these days to forgo having their individual schools seek accreditation.  Instead, these school systems seek accreditation at the district level.  District accreditation efforts require leadership and facilitation at the central office level.

Accreditation Review: Pre-visit Year

I must admit I thought I was going to lose my mind a few times during this year.  No matter how closely your own district or school improvement process aligns to the accreditation process, the process requires a great deal of additional work.

So what do you do if you are the lucky CO administrator with this new project?  And if you are an associate or assistant superintendent, you will be the obvious choice.  If you are a member of the curriculum department or have responsibilities with strategic planning, you might also play a central role or become the facilitator.  If this describes you, well, just buckle up, buttercup!

I have created this three-part accreditation series to help out central office administrators who find themselves in charge of this process for their district.  I tried to capture what I learned about how to run the process and share ideas about how it could be better next time, while the thoughts are still fresh in my mind.

If navigating the accreditation process is your baby, then it is best to know this as early as possible.  Read everything you can find on the accrediting organization’s website regarding its process, standards, and rubrics.  Download handbooks and process guides, if they are available.

I also like to review information from our previous accreditation review.  This might be especially helpful is this is your first accreditation rodeo.  However, I offer a CAVEAT about doing this.  

Most likely, in the five years since your previous review, something about the process and standards have changed.  

So while it is good to see what you did last time, where you were, make sure you understand the current process and requirements.

In my case, the last time the district had a review, most of the work took place at the central office.  Schools were not so involved then.  This time, however, the schools ran the same process and completed the same reports that the central office did.  The number of standards had also changed.  

After our last review, the process changed the next year.  The same thing is happening now with a new process being implemented next year.

I offer three pre-accreditation review year items to help you better situation your district for a success review.  Implementing these three items should also save you headaches and hair-pulling during the review year, too.

  1. Attend an accreditation conference.

Many of these organizations (e.g., AdvancED) sponsor state and regional conferences each year.  You and as many teachers and administrators as possible should attend a conference.  It is impossible to make every session, but with a team attending, you can divide and conquer.  This exposes several people to different parts of the process and builds capacity among your school folks.  This is important!  You can NOT do this alone, so build expertise at both the school and district level.

  1. Serve on an accreditation review team.

No better way exists to learn the accreditation process, to internalize the standards and best practices, than to serve as a member of team reviewing another school or district.  Be forewarned – this is hard, hard work, and the hours are loooong.  However, it is a rich opportunity, and you will return home with a better understanding of how to facilitate the process in your district.  You will also return with new ideas and projects (fun).  Encourage teachers and principals to also serve on these teams, too.

  1.  Form teams.

You will need two types of teams.  The first type of team is composed of the lead facilitators from each school.  Ask principals to identify the lead facilitator for their schools.  Sometimes a principal will facilitate his or her school team, but most often it is an assistant principal or instructional coach.  Sometimes schools will have co-facilitators.   These facilitators will then form their school teams.  These teachers and school administrators will lead the effort in their respective schools.  However, these teams need support from the central office – from you.  But these lead facilitators will be your lifeline to the schools and the work they are doing.  This is a symbiotic relationship.  Nurture it.

2016. Deer. Sea Pines, Hilton Head Island.

The second type of team is your central-office level team.  These are the directors and coordinators of all the departments within your district.  For smaller districts or for those with lean central offices, you may need to dip into the school level to round out your team.  If this becomes necessary, the best choices are those staff members whose roles serve multiple grade spans or schools.  For example, a coach who works with middle and high school teachers and students.  People in these roles often have the broader perspective that is needed to complete the accreditation tasks.

If you do these three things prior to the year of your accreditation review, you will be better prepared to lead a successful review.  I love to hear from those of you who have been involved in the accreditation process.  What are your suggestions for preparation for a review?

Stay tuned for my next post.  I will be sharing strategies to implement during your accreditation year.

Regional District Collaboration Brings Success and Satisfaction, Or Why I Love My (Informal) PLN

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Although I have been in education for a number of years (okay, maybe decades) and can remember many ‘wins’ during that time, the past two and a half years have afforded me one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.  

I have the privilege of working with a fabulous team of people whose goal is to provide low-cost to no-cost professional development to a large group (approximately 1500) of educators from across several school districts.  

Yes, each year we plan a one day conference for teachers, teacher assistants, support personnel, principals, and central office administrators for eight school districts.  Doesn’t that sound exciting?  

While the actual conference days have always been a tremendous success, the rewarding part for me was – and continues to be – the ongoing collaboration with my brothers and sisters from different districts.  

Daffodils in bloom.

The team consists of central office administrators from each of our eight school districts. Our duties and titles are varied, but we all work directly or indirectly with providing staff development and training to the educators in our respective districts.

Pulling off a Collaborative Regional Education Workshop (CREW) event required more work than one might imagine.  Discussing topics, scheduling, creating session proposal forms, creating registration forms, and assigning rooms are a few of the tasks the team tackled.  

Make no mistake – this team worked.  Yes, we laughed, too, but unlike most meetings that I attend, we actually accomplished work during the time we were together, as well as between our meetings.  

(Don’t pretend you do not know what I am talking about.  I know you attend meetings where nothing is accomplished, or even worse, meetings that could have been handled with an email or a shared document).

But despite the sometimes difficult and always time-consuming work, I realized I was enjoying the work we were performing, and I believe that the other team members were, too.  We all knew our vision, we sincerely wanted it to succeed, and we divvied up the work.  Our team was cohesive,  and best of all, we even liked each other!

Central Office administrators grow blinders sometimes.  Not because we want to see only what is in front of us, but because we rarely have the opportunity to see or work beyond what is right in front of us.  Working with the CREW planning team allowed us to see and hear how our colleagues from other districts handled specific situations or issues.  

Most of us have regional meetings that we attend, so we do find out what other districts are doing, how they are meeting a specific challenge.  The difference between those regional meeting experiences and the CREW planning team experience is the CREW work was truly a collaborative effort.  

Instead of coming together, listening to information and continuing with our individual work upon returning to our school homes, we collaborated on a joint project, which provided us with a sense of belonging and ownership.  

I value every member of the CREW team because each is willing to dig in and do what is necessary to make the event successful.  A volunteer was quickly found for every small, boring, or seemingly unimportant task.  We were all ready to help with whatever needed to be done.  

Most central office administrators likely studied the topic of dysfunctional teams while in graduate school.  The CREW team is what we should have studied instead.  It is by far the most productive team that I have had the privilege to join.  We had no egos, no dead weight, no slackers with which to contend.  

Perfection it was not.  It was definitely not pretty (but what real work is?).  Sometimes we were distracted by the work we left on our desks.  Frustration occurred because some of us are sequential thinkers, and some of us are random thinkers.  Occasionally, we forgot what our task was and did someone else’s task (guilty).  

But I can’t remember a single email that was sent to the group that did not receive responses.  I remember members encouraging each other when the stress of pulling off a one day conference seemed overwhelming.  I smile thinking of the times when I received that encouragement from others on my team.  But I never doubted that we would be successful with this conference.  The commitment of the team was rock solid from the beginning.  

Our CREW work could be an exemplar for the continuous improvement process.

We have a common goal, and we have data from the previous year’s event.  We discuss the data and the different aspects of the plan, develop strategies to accomplish various tasks, and adjust our plans when necessary.  Each of us bring different perspectives to the table, and each of us provide various resources from our respective school districts.  

The CREW planning team is a highly functioning professional learning network (PLN), although I doubt any of us really identify ourselves as a PLN.  This work is such a rewarding experience for me because I am a part of a working group whose members are ALWAYS positive.  

Don’t get me wrong – we do not have our heads in the sand.  We run into some problems (like our caterer not realizing we needed a vegetarian option for lunch until the last minute), but we handle them without losing our equilibrium or enthusiasm.  We just work hard together and enjoy (most) every minute of it.

Do you belong to a formal or informal professional learning network (PLN) or community (PLC)?  What is the goal of your team?  How functional is it?  Please share with me the comments section!