By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Accreditation team gives thumbs up to RCPS
Placeholder Image

Rockdale County Public Schools received a recommendation for accreditation from the AdvancedED evaluation team, which reviews the district once every five years. After a year of preparation and evaluation, the six-member AdvancedEd evaluation team gave their report Tuesday afternoon.

Applause broke out in the audience of mostly RCPS staff when Rosetta Riddle, associate lead of the evaluation team and professional learning coordinator for Henry County Schools, announced, “As a team we recommend granting of accreditation.”

“We salute you and applaud you on your accomplishment.”

RCPS received an overall Index of Educational Quality score of 324, on a scale with 400 as the top score.

“You’re going to be seen as one of the very highest rated districts. Those are extremely high scores and a tribute to the tremendous work being done in Rockdale County Public Schools,” said Riddle.

Superintendent Richard Autry said, in a statement, “I am very pleased that the external review team was able to see firsthand the quality of our people and the hard work that is being done every day to ensure all of our students are well prepared for a successful future… I also want to express my gratitude to all the parents, community members and board members who took time out of their workday to share their thoughts and experiences with the review team.” These stakeholders “play a vital role in taking us from good to great to world-class.”

The evaluation team, led by Dr. Mike Lodico, looked at the impact of teaching and learning, leadership capacity of the district, and resource utilization. The district received a score of 319 for teaching and learning impact, 342 for leadership capacity, and 313 for resource utilization. 

The team praised RCPS on its commitment to all students’ achievement, fiscal and resource management, and professional development.

“Despite the loss of funding, we felt you had moved forward very well to take care of the needs of the district,” said Riddle. “We continuously heard ‘all means all.’ And we were impressed with the implementation of your vision.”

To collect data for these scores, the six member team reviewed records and conducted interviews with seven school board members, 66 administrators 13 teachers and support staff chosen at random, 35 students chosen at random, 15 parents and community stake holders and visited 26 classrooms for 20 minutes each during their visit to the school system Feb. 10-11. Their visit was originally supposed to be three days long but was cut short by the ice storm. The stopped by Salem High, Davis Middle, Memorial Middle, and Honey Creek Elementary.

As far as required actions for the district, the team asked RCPS to “develop formalized processes for ensuring vertical alignment of curriculum” as students move from one grade to the next, and “research and apply best practices in technology integration to ensure maximum use of the district’s substantial investment in digital tools.”

Recommended items included ensuring all staff, including classified staff, have written professional plans, develop innovative avenues for more parent participation and “evaluate current practices in differentiated instruction in light of research” to move towards the district’s goal of customized learning for each student.

The team’s recommendation of accreditation will be reviewed by AdvancED and a formal decision will be made in June. 

AdvancED is a collaboration of three US-based education accreditation agencies — the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC), and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) - that reviews more than 30,000 public and private schools and districts across the United States. 

-------------------------------------------------

 

IN BRIEF: Rockdale County Public Schools received a recommendation for accreditation from the AdvancedED evaluation team, which reviews schools and school systems every five years. After a year of preparation and evaluation, the six-member AdvancedEd evaluation team gave their report Tuesday afternoon.

"As a team we recommend granting of accreditation," Rosetta Riddle, associate lead of the evaluation team and professional learning coordinator for Henry County Schools, said as applause broke out in the audience of mostly RCPS staff.

"We salute you and applaud you on your accomplishment."

RCPS received an overall Index of Educational Quality score of 324, on a scale of 100 being worse and 400 being better.

"You're going to be seen as one of the very highest rated districts. Those are extremely high scores and a tribute to the tremendous work being done in Rockdale County Public Schools," said Riddle.

Check back later for more.