CSD Accreditaton Renewed, Deemed “Highly Functional”
Decatur Metro | March 14, 2011Just received this City Schools of Decatur press release…
Decatur, GA (2011) – On Wednesday, March 9th the Southern Association on Colleges and Schools (SACS)/ AdvancED Quality Assurance Review (QAR) team reported the findings of their district assessment to the Decatur Board of Education. Based on their comprehensive review of the district, the team recommended that City Schools of Decatur should remain an accredited district. The QAR team praised the district on the standard of governance and leadership, stating that “board members and the superintendent have a strong, positive, collaborative relationship,” earning the district a rating of “highly functional” – the highest possible rating.
“I am thrilled with the report made by the Quality Assurance Review at our board work session,” said Decatur Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Edwards. “It gives me great pride for our district to be referred to as ‘remarkable and phenomenal’ by the reviewers and to have the positive working relationship of our board to be recognized as exceptional.”
SACS/AdvancED, an international accreditation organization, accredits schools and districts that have met the AdvancED quality standards, engaged in continuous improvement and demonstrated quality assurance through internal and external review. City Schools of Decatur was successful in fully meeting all seven quality standards including:
– Vision and Purpose
– Governance and Leadership
– Teaching and Learning
– Documenting and Using Results
– Resources and Support Systems
– Stakeholder Communications and Relationships
-Commitment to Continuous Improvement
The QAR team also commended the district on developing and maintaining a “high quality of system employees [that] demonstrates a culture of continuous improvement and professionalism.” The team further praised the system’s “sense of community among staff members, stakeholders, parents and students that fosters a culture of excellence.”
In its recommendations, the team encouraged the district to continue to focus on professional development and targeted interventions and strategies to support success for all students, two areas which are a focus of the 2011 – 2016 City Schools of Decatur strategic plan.
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In the interest of time, I’ll get our usual comment thread going: “This makes for a nice headline and all, but the sad reality of CSD is…”
George Clinton for Superintendent.
Funcational: adj. A school system that is both fun, and educational. Not to be confused with Funkational, a teaching method developed by George Clinton and Bootsy Collins.
So CSD IS alright.
If I watch that video enough times, I might actually be able to dance!
Not me. Being a white male, I was born with a complete lack of dance ability. Unless, of course, you include the “white man’s overbite” as a dance move.
Oh, I don’t know that all white men got no rhythm…my lover-beast is a whitey, and he can actually move pretty well when the mood strikes him (it was one of the things that drew my attention to him the night we met)!
alright aight
I find it interesting that “board members and the superintendent have a strong, positive, collaborative relationship” is the standard for a “highly functioning” district and that things like community, parent and teacher involvement (or lack thereof) don’t seem to be taken into account. The Superintendent is appointed by the board. OF COURSE they have a positive relationship with each other. My review of the board and the superintendent is less positive since I find them to be autocratic and unresponsive.
Parents and students were interviewed as part of the review.
Incredible. Aren’t we great. Rah, rah. Go TEAM..
Cabbages
“Cu-cu-cu-cucumber,
Cu-cu-cu-cabbage,
Cu-cu-cu-califlower…”
As a CSD parent who appeared before the SACS committee, I want to assure you that all the parents in my grouping were honest and opinionated. We discussed issues with the school system that were not entirely peachy. I am a parent who believes in our schools, teachers and administration. I believe we can always improve and should strive to do just that.
I too appeared before the committee and we had very opinated and honest answers given to the committee. Maybe those complainers above could try speaking directly to our administration who I find are very easy to communicate with and willing to listen and offer solutions.
Doesn’t make for interesting blogs but might want to give it a try.
” Maybe those complainers above could try speaking directly to our administration who I find are very easy to communicate with and willing to listen and offer solutions”
Nope too reasonable. And as you said – “Doesn’t make for interesting blogs…”
Most folks do both.
I was also one of those parents, though I regret that I didn’t have much to contribute. I felt as though both negative and positive issues were addressed honestly and that the SACS folks were listening.
My experience in my 1.5 years of dealing with CSD with two children is that while there have been and still are issues with communication at all levels of administration (a minor example being the inexplicable language of the superintendent in the letter about school hours), there have also been areas where there has been exceptional improvement (Clairemont, for one). I am as active as my time allows, and I believe–both from feedback and from observation–that the input of parents (at least at Clairemont; I can’t speak for other schools) is heard and considered.
For my part, I do my best to keep informed, to read between the lines and, above all, to remain civil. If I have an issue, I may whine about it to a friend, but when it comes to time to discuss it publicly, I am not only polite–I also work hard to consider why the people on the other side of the table are acting as they are. There has been more than one occasion when I was certain that the less-than-stellar demeanor of a school administrator was the result of too many parents being unreasonable and not thinking of the student community as a whole when they spoke.
My brother is a school principal. He sent me this after I told him about parents getting out of control over their kids not getting into the gifted program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUEuoV9ZzpI&NR=1
Ms. Kuebler, principal emeritus of Westchester, used to say that she could take parents crying in her office over about anything except their child not being gifted!
Sad reality? Would you rather live in the “highly functional” school districts of Clayton County, DeKalb County or City of Atlanta?
Apparently I included an emoticon when I should have used a sarcastrophe.
Lack of sarcastrophe = catastrophe
In cyberspace, no one can hear your sarcasm.
The APS has a number of schools that are, by many measures, just as good as our “sacred cow”. In what way is what appears to be a trade association, an important indicator of quality?
Did anyone really expect that CSD wouldn’t be accredited? I would expect that a school system of its caliber would be accredited by SACS. And there IS a great sense of community around CSD whether or not it’s always recognized on this blog. If there wasn’t, the topic wouldn’t even show up here because most involved Decatur families would have moved elsewhere or be sending their kids to private school. But blogs bring out the controversies and spectrum of views on topics. That’s a good thing, IMHO. Folks can support CSD but also question and probe as stakeholders. It’s in no one’s interest to have CSD fail accreditation just to spite the system because it doesn’t always listen or decide things the way we think they should.
I have dealt with the board more than once and found them to be both evasive and dismissive. I know the schools are good, that’s why we moved here. The administration could do a much better job of involving the community.
I just noticed that the S in SACS stands for Southern, as in the Southern Association on Colleges and Schools (SACS). I wonder if there is a national accrediting association? I wonder how the regional accrediting associations compare to one another. I don’t think these associations are merely trade associations. Losing SACS accreditation has implications for college applications and I’m not sure what else. I think they are more like the associations that accredit hospitals where losing accreditation has financial implications, e.g. receiving Medicaid or insurance reimbursement.
SACS is part of Advanced ED: http://www.advanc-ed.org/
“AdvancED is the world’s largest education community, serving more than 27,000 public and private schools and districts across the United States and in 69 countries that educate over 15 million students. We believe that students must be prepared to succeed in a constantly-evolving and diverse world and that educational institutions have a deep responsibility to deliver quality education to students from all walks of life.” (more on this page: http://www.advanc-ed.org/company-overview)
Its history goes back to 1895.