Lessons from Accreditation Service

I was going through a stack of papers this morning when I discovered some notes I had taken during my work on a WASC Accreditation Visiting Committee this spring - thoughts for me to bring back to TBS's upcoming self-study and accreditation work this year. I shared what I learned when I served on a committee back in 2011, so here are the nuggets I gleaned this time around.

1. Evidence binders need Tables of Contents with page numbers for each document, and the documents should be paginated properly. This makes it far easier for a VC member to see if the document s/he wants is in fact in that binder, and to locate it.

2. Limit the number of evidence binders, and make sure they have the right information. It's important to have binders for each chapter, and each one should have the essential documents that support the conclusions of the self-study, but other binders and documentation should be clearly labeled as auxiliary.

3. It's nice to have a check-in meeting with the school's accreditation leadership team early in the morning. This gives the committee a chance to comment on their progress, review and make any needed changes to the schedule, and helps the leadership team feel informed.

4. The VC truly cares about broad stakeholder involvement. This needs to begin with the process of educating the community, extend to participation in the writing of the self-study, and be visible during the visit.

5. Incorporate at least one meeting with students into the schedule. Be intentional about how students are included, and don't try to "stack" the meeting (though it's also fine to identify strongly verbal students, or student leadership council, who you want to the VC to speak with as well).

6. Make sure the Board of Trustees turns out in force during the visit. Perhaps it's obvious, but poor visibility by Board members does not inspire confidence about the school's governance.

7. The VC's presentation to the community may operate only on a broad level, and save making any detailed recommendations for the private ears of the Head of School and accreditation leadership team.

8. Remember that the goal of accreditation is a process of reflection and self-improvement; it might be hard to hear the VC identify problems or make recommendations that are outside of what we articulate in the self-study, but if they do, it's for good reasons!