3 Tips for Speeding Up School Accreditation
Gilmour Academy is a part of the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) — an accreditation body that oversees private independent schools. Every seven years Gilmour Academy and other ISACS members undergo a thorough audit process that examines the effectiveness of education at the school, and alignment to required curriculum and best practices. A similar process exists for most private school accreditation bodies. It can be a stressful time for these schools as both teachers and administration must prepare important documents that detail the quality of education provided.
A key component to private school accreditation is preparing “issues” documents for review by the auditing teams and committees. This means being able to effectively convey the instructional practices and alignment with the rest of the school. Many accreditation bodies recommend that department heads create curriculum maps that overview what is being taught, when, and how it aligns to the school’s mission. Further, having curriculum maps prepared by each department creates consistency across the school or district by having all scope and sequence documents follow a similar format, reporting similar information.
Save time with Curriculum Maps
After curriculum maps are created by each department head, printing them out for the accreditation bodies will make preparing for audits a seamless process. Administrators can ensure that all curriculum maps include indicators of curriculum progress by each unit area. Schools can get started with tools like Chalk.com’s Curriculum Mapper to create straightforward scope and sequence documents that speed up the accreditation process and keep everyone on the same page.
Run a mock audit
One of the best ways to get ahead of issues that will be identified by accreditation auditors is to run a self audit of the school. Use guidelines from the school’s accreditation body to mimic their processes in analyzing each department. Doing so will help departments identify important issues and make a plan of action in advance of the external auditors.
Leverage technology
Teachers at Gilmour Academy had traditionally used Rubicon’s Atlas program for creating their curriculum documents, though they often found that it was difficult to use and required many workarounds. Technology leaders at the school decided that to make the entire accreditation process easier, Gilmour Academy needed to switch to Chalk.com. This move resulted in better teacher adoption and an easier document preparation process for their school’s accreditation.
Curriculum maps are a critical component of your preparation for school accreditation audits. Learn more about creating curriculum maps in our free guide.
