WHAT IS ACCREDITATION FOR GROWTH?

Accreditation for Growth (AFG) is an accreditation protocol that uses strategic planning as a vehicle for growth and improvement in student performance and in the school's capacity to effect that growth. The protocol, developed by the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools (MSCSS) of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, links various planning and institutional growth and improvement efforts. In AFG, the primary determinants of progress are not the resources a community provides for its schools (the inputs), but instead the actual results of the school's work - the students' performance. AFG requires the school to establish objectives for improving student performance based on its vision of a preferred future for the students. Therefore, AFG is a future-oriented and visionary process. In addition, the AFG protocol provides for a continuous review of programs and services and of the results of student performance. It also allows diverse constituent groups to participate in charting the future of the school.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Accreditation for Growth protocol.....

To what does a school commit when it selects the Accreditation/or Growth protocol?

By choosing AFG as its accreditation protocol, a school must make several commitments:

A Focus on Student Performance and Growth

• The school is committed to focusing its improvement efforts on growth and improvement in student performance and the school's capacity to affect that growth and improvement. Improvement efforts are aimed at targeted growth and improvement in student learning, student performance, and student results.

A Culture of Accountability in Student Performance

• The school is committed to student performance objectives that are measurable. There is a viable process for monitoring achievement of the objectives, and there is an accountability system for monitoring accomplishment the objectives and the action plans to achieve them.

A Planning Ethic

• The school is committed to a continuous clarification of its unique mission, beliefs, and expectations in terms of student performance. The school is action-oriented as shown by the development of long­term strategic action plans that integrate program, services, facilities, and other support systems to address growth needs.

Commitment to Continuous Improvement

• The school is committed to continuous evaluation, an annual review process, peer review, and a dynamic process with the flexibility to modify action plans.

Involvement of Representative Constituents

• The school is committed to involving a broad spectrum of the school's stakeholders in identifying the mission, beliefs, profile of graduates, objectives for growth and improvement in student performance, and action plans to achieve the objectives. Stakeholders are also involved in overseeing implementation of action plans and monitoring achievement of the objectives.

When a school selects the Accreditation for Growth protocol, it must endorse these five commitments. All levels of the organization, including the governing board, the central staff and the school itself must commit to working together toward the implementation of the growth and improvement plan developed in the Accreditation for Growth process. To demonstrate this commitment, the school will complete the AFG Commitment Form in Exhibit 3A. The Commitment Form will be included in the Self-Study Document prepared for the Validation Team (see Section 9).

Exhibit 3B provides a checklist of required ongoing communications between the school and the Middle States Association throughout the AFG accreditation process.

What are the components of the Accreditation for Growth protocol?

Exhibit 3C provides an overview of the specific components of the Accreditation for Growth protocol. First, the school must demonstrate that it meets the MSA Standards for Accreditation. It is expected that representative stakeholders will be involved in determining how well the school meets these standards.

Second, a team representing the stakeholders of the school and community must develop a plan to improve areas of student performance that have been identified as priorities for growth and improvement. This plan should be consistent with the school's overall strategic plan. The plan must contain the following components:

• A mission
• Belief statements
• A profile of graduates that describes the desired attributes and achievements that students are expected to exhibit upon graduation/exiting the final grade of the school
• Two, three, or four measurable student performance objectives approved by Middle States
• Action plans that detail what the school and its community will do to achieve those objectives.

Finally, the school must put into place planning structures and processes that will ensure the school has the capacity, the will, and the systems to implement its action plans. The planning process typically includes two or more educators serving as coordinators of the planning and accreditation process, and a team of stakeholders that is responsible for developing and monitoring the AFG growth and improvement plan, establishing procedures for communicating planning activities to the educational community and obtaining the community's ongoing input into the plan, ensuring that the plan is reviewed at least annually, and establishing one or more teams responsible for developing, reviewing, and revising the action plans.

© 2007 Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools

Archbishop Ryan High School
11201 Academy Rd.
Philadelphia, PA 19154
215-637-1800