DeKalb High School was successfully awarded re-accreditation last school year by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The other four schools in the county are now going through the renewal process preparing for re-accreditation, which is required every five years.
The mission of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is the improvement of education in the South through accreditation. The accreditation process for any school that participates allows an inward look at shared values and practices that assures the educational quality and effectiveness of each school. Accreditation by the SACS Committee is a statement of the school’s continuing commitment to integrity and its capacity to provide effective programs and services based on agreed-upon accreditation standards.
The SACS Committee is a non-profit, non-partisan group of educators that conducts rigorous, on-site reviews of PreK-12 schools and school systems to ensure that all learners realize their full potential. The SACS Committee’s mission is to help schools improve the remediation process with a balanced, systemic approach combining standards, stakeholder feedback and student performance to measure quality programs, relationships and results. It helps schools make the most of their talents and resources. The process aligns accreditation with accountability, emphasizing learner outcomes when evaluating the school’s quality; however, it is not the outcome but the course taken over time that yields the greatest return on investment.
The journey to accreditation is a long one. Five school committees made up of teachers, stakeholders, parents and students are set up within the schools up for renewal of accreditation. These school committees focus their work on five standards of what makes up a quality school. To gain or maintain accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, an institution must comply with the standards contained in the Principles of Accreditation. The standards are: Purpose and Direction, Governance and Leadership, Teaching and Assessing for Learning, Resources and Support Systems, and Using Results for Continuous Improvement. Each standard is reviewed thoroughly by the school’s committee members and a written report of their findings is presented to the SACS Committee during the site visit. The SACS Committee will review each school’s committee’s work and in turn will provide recommendations for accreditation renewal. The SACS Committee will provide each school with a committee final report of the schools evaluation rating on a given rubrics scale. This allows each school to see their strengths that can be built on and their weaknesses to improve.
School administrators and teachers say they look forward to sharing the final performance rating with our community after the SACS Committee’s visits.
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