AMS ACCREDITATION

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AMSACCREDITATION

• Sharing Our Experience
• K. Whitlock Z. Zacher
• AMS 45th Annual National Conference
• Chicago, March 2005

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What is Accreditation?

• Self-study and documentation process
• An opportunity for a school to reflect on its
  practice
• A self-evaluation process to define strengths
  weaknesses
• An avenue for continued growth and improvement
• Formal acknowledgement by an accrediting
  association

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Why is Accreditation Important for a School?

• External recognition as a school of excellence
• Lends credibility to the school
• Is a valuable marketing tool
• Provides an external framework to examine
  professional practices
• Careful self-study is an invaluable tool for
  school improvement
• Brings school community together at a new level

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What is the Accreditation Process

• School completes documentation and self-study
• On-site team visits school
• On-site team sends written report and
  recommendation to AMS Accreditation Commission
  and school
• Review by Accreditation Commission
• Recommendation is forwarded to the AMS Board

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The Three Protocols

• The Authentic American Montessori School
• The School Portfolio A Self-Study
• Joint Accreditation Protocol
• The school chooses the protocol best suited to
  its style
• Each protocol defines how you will go about the
  process

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Middle States AssociationandAmerican Montessori
Society
Validating the Vision February 2004 Nardin Academy
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The Protocols

• The protocols for AMS accreditation are laid out
  in the School Improvement Through AMS
  Accreditation School Handbook
• This can be downloaded from the AMS website
• www.amshq.org
• The next contact is Mimi Basso at the AMS head
  office her email address is
• Mimi_at_amshq.org

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Choosing Your Internal Coordinators
Is everyone invested?
Number in team?
Things To Remember
Is there a consensus builder?
Is there a global thinker?
Is there a detail- oriented worker?
Is there a task master?
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Role of the Internal Coordinator

• Keep the process on-task
• Keep the process moving forward
• Target critical people for various committees
• Create a timeline for the entire process
• Schedule meetings
• Plan agendas
• Synthesizing information
• Communication

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Identifying the Stakeholders

• Faculty
• Staff
• Business
• Administrative
• Maintenance
• Cleaning
• Development
• Students
• Parents
• Neighbors
• Board
• Alumni

These various constituents will become members of
different committees
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Respect Your Teams

• Let them know
• Time commitment required
• The timetable for meetings
• That you will always start finish on time
• Be hospitable
• Determine your decision-making model
• Keep everyone informed each step of the way

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How to Get the Job Done
Communication
Acknowledge individual personality traits
Identify individual strengths
Things To Consider
Identify a springboard issue
Compensation?
How to best utilize time
How to make everyones voice heard
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The AMS Piece

• Our springboard was 10.5 and 10.6 from the
  standards
• For Joint Accreditation our AMS self-study
  required a narrative of
• I. The Educational Nature of the School
• II. The Educational Outcomes of the School
• III. Strategic Plan
• I II are available through
• www.amshq.org
• The Authentic American Montessori School (pp.
  35-47)

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I. The Educational Nature of the School

• The Six Essential Qualities
• Montessori Learning Environment
• Montessoris Learning Activities
• Montessori Learning Relationships
• Montessori Spirituality
• What the Montessori Teacher Is
• What the Montessori Teacher Does

• The Nature of Outcomes
• the descriptions are
• Independence
• Confidence and Competence
• Autonomy
• Intrinsic Motivation
• Ability to Handle External Authority
• Social Responsibility
• Academic Preparation
• Spiritual Awareness
• Citizen of the World

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II. The Educational Outcomes

• Align student outcomes for each developmental
  level with the curriculum and the schools
  mission
• Describe tools used to measure and report student
  outcomes

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III. Strategic Plan

• Develop long range and short term goals
• Develop an action plan

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The Ways We Worked

• NDP meeting process
• Small group work
• Personal response/feedback
• Writing team
• Developed questionnaires
• Synthesized work into one voice

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What We Gained

• Validation
• Focus for the future
• Appreciation for all 3 divisions and the
  commonalities between them
• Practical action plan
• Became more efficient