I have been learning recently about how accreditation aligns with authorization. By accreditation, I am referring to international accreditation organizations such as The Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC), The Council of International Schools (CIS) or New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). By authorization, I am referring specifically to The International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO), which provides a curriculum framework for schools which includes the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Year Programme (MYP), Diploma Programme (DP) and Career Related Programme (CP).
So what is the difference between these two organisations?
ACS WASC for example will guide the school through a Focus on Learning Process where the school will analyze its effectiveness compared to their research-based standards. The school undertakes an in-depth self-study and looks in particular at the following areas:
- Organization for student learning
- Curriculum, instruction and assessment
- Support for student social-emotional and academic growth
- School culture, child protection and parent/community
- Residential life
The constant question throughout this process is, "How do we know it is effective for all students' learning and well-being?"
The IBO on the other hand provides a curriculum framework. The PYP and MYP should be developed around a vertically aligned set of curriculum standards, however, the DP comes with a prescribed syllabus. The DP is a rigorous program and the PYP and MYP can be, depending on their implementation. The IBO also leads each program through a self-study process where the school develops in the following standards:
- Purpose
- Environment
- Culture
- Learning
So the question is how do these align? For example, ACS WASC will usually leave the school with around five schoolwide goals to work towards in a six-year period. The IB will leave the school with about ten recommendations per program (about 30 total) to be addressed in a five-year period. The answer is through the development of an annual strategic plan. On this plan, a school can break down the goals and recommendations over the five or six-year period into manageable, attainable, and accountable chunks.
The school leader may then share this document with the school community to inform them of how the school vision will be put into action. I ask the community to keep me accountable to the plan. In our strategic plan each division of the school was supported to develop its own plan, based on the different self-studies. This will be used to support each division leader to implement their plan, thus achieving the school mission. So for example, there is a tab for PYP, MYP, DP, Logistics etc.
An idea to consider is to put a Gantt chart on the plan to keep track of schoolwide goals over a historical period. This will be particularly useful during staff turnover to see what the school has worked on over the years. Keep learning!
References
ACS WASC Focus on Learning 2020 Edition
IBO Standards and Practices 2020
