WASC Courses

WASC FOCUS ON LEARNING ACCREDITATION: THE ROLE/RESPONSIBILITIES OF A VISITING COMMITTEE MEMBER IN FACILITATING CONTINUOUS SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Instructor

Dr. Marilyn S. George

This course will prepare educators to serve as visiting committee members for the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC) accreditation school visits to facilitate continuous school improvement.

PRIMARY LEARNING OUTCOMES

Participants will understand:

• • The ACS WASC Accreditation Cycle of Continuous Improvement based on the WASC Guiding Principles
  • The specific ACS WASC Focus on Learning process and its relationship to accountability and continuous improvement
  • The roles/responsibilities of a visiting committee member: Pre-visit Preparation, During the Visit
  • ACS WASC Focus on Learning criteria/indicators
  • The importance of understanding the school’s culture, the use of multiple types of data/evidence and the schoolwide action

plan

• How to determine the accreditation status

EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR CREDIT

The first aspect will be based on the class dialogue and interaction. As part of this, there is the expectation that the practicum relates to actually participating in a full visit.

Beyond dialogue and responses to the important aspects of a quality visit based on impact on student learning and well-being and continuous, improvement, the course participant will need to provide reflections that demonstrate the importance of the visiting committee member’s role/responsibilities.

ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENT

Part of the course will be preparing for the actual visit; the course participant will be required to share the pre-questions and writing based on the analysis of the school’s full self-study and WASC criteria/indicators.

Note: Visiting committee members must be, or have previously been, affiliated with an ACS WASC-accredited school (or a school in candidacy status) in order to be eligible to participate on accreditation visits.