WASC
- The Administration is pleased to report that the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) in the USA has now officially accredited our school. We have received interim status and will have up to three years in which to complete a self-study. This will involve additional training for a select number of staff, and the steps involved will be reviewed with our educational community over the next few months.
- We now look forward to the next implementation phase, and we are particularly pleased that in 2010 our students will be able to say that they have graduated from the American School of Ulaanbaatar, a WASC accredited school. This will allow them to apply for entry to most universities of their choice
| Western Association of Schools and Colleges, WASC
http://www.acswasc.org/about_overview.htm The Purpose of Accreditation |
| Accreditation is a term that originally meant trustworthiness in its middle French, Old Italian usage. The original purpose of accreditation in the United States was designed to encourage the standardization of secondary school programs, primarily to ensure for the benefit of colleges and universities that graduating students had mastered a particular body of knowledge. However, today the process developed by the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), involves a dual purpose that continues the expectation that schools must be worthy of the trust placed in them to provide high quality learning opportunities, but with the added requirement that they clearly demonstrate that they are about the critical business of continual self-improvement.
Ultimately, the accreditation process is all about fostering excellence in the elementary, secondary, adult, postsecondary and supplementary education programs we accredit. Our fundamental cause involves helping schools meaningfully create the highest quality learning experience they can envision for all students. It is WASC’s consistent purpose to professionally support schools in creating for themselves a clear vision of what they desire their students to know and be able to do and then to ensure that efficient and relevant systems are in place that predictably result in the fulfillment of those expectations for every child. The capacity of any organization to improve is directly related to its ability to recognize, acknowledge, and act on its identified strengths and limitations. The accreditation process is a vehicle that enables schools to improve student learning and school performance based on an analysis of those strengths and limitations. Participating schools must meet rigorous, research-based standards that reflect the essential elements of a quality and effective school, but again, must also be able to demonstrate engagement in as well as capacity to provide continuous school improvement. |
| WASC ORGANIZATION |
| The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is one of six regional accrediting associations in the United States. The Commission provides assistance to schools located in California, Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and East Asia.
This association is composed of three commissions:
The Accrediting Commission for Schools extends its services to public, independent, church-related, and proprietary schools of the following levels and types: elementary schools; junior high/middle/intermediate schools, comprehensive/college preparatory high schools, continuation high schools, alternative high schools, occupational/vocational high schools, regional occupational programs/centers, adult schools, and vocational skill centers. Many of the schools accredited also include postsecondary courses, e.g., courses which require a high school diploma or G.E.D. |
| WASC PHILOSOPHY |
| The Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) believes that the goal of any school should be to provide for successful student learning. Programs encompassing both the cognitive and affective components of learning should foster human growth and development and enable students to become responsible, productive members of the school community and of society. Each school should develop a school purpose to reflect its beliefs. For ongoing program improvement, each school should engage in objective and subjective internal and external evaluations to assess progress in achieving its purpose.
The Commission grants accreditation to a school based upon the following: The presumption that the primary goals of accreditation are
The school’s self-study and the visiting committee’s report provides compelling evidence that
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| WASC MISSION |
| The mission of the Commission is to foster excellence in elementary, secondary, adult, and postsecondary education by encouraging school improvement through a process of continuing evaluation and to recognize, by accreditation, schools that meet an acceptable level of quality, in accordance with established criteria. |
| WASC TERRITORY |
| The Commission extends its services to public and private schools located in California, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Marianas, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and to American/International Schools in East Asia and the Pacific |
| Initial Accreditation Process |
| After reviewing the WASC Conditions of Eligibility, interested institutions, and supplementary education programs should complete the Request for WASC Affiliation form and return the completed form to the WASC office.
If it is determined that an institution or program may be eligible for affiliation with WASC, an Initial Visit School Description report template will be sent for completion On receipt of the completed report and approval to proceed, the Executive Director will arrange with the institution for a two-member team to conduct a one-day visit to the institution. At this time the team will evaluate if the institution is eligible for accreditation. Following the visit, the visiting committee will prepare a report to present to the WASC Accrediting Commission for Schools for action. This report will include recommendations regarding the institution’s ongoing improvement. The institution will be notified by the Executive Director regarding the action of the Commission. If the Commission’s action is favorable, the institution will be granted either Candidate for accreditation or Initial accreditation, for a term not to exceed three years. Candidate for accreditation is a status of affiliation which indicates that an institution has achieved initial recognition and is progressing toward, but does not assume, accreditation. The candidate for accreditation classification is designed for institutions which do not currently fully meet WASC criteria for full accreditation. The institution must provide evidence of sound planning, provide evidence of resources to implement these plans, and appear to have the potential for attaining its goals within a reasonable time. A candidate school is required to submit an annual report and is expected to apply for full accreditation by the third year of candidacy. Candidacy status shall expire at the end of three years. Initial accreditation may be granted for up to three years to institutions which meet the organizational and support criteria for full accreditation and have a history and support system which indicate that a high quality program can be sustained into the foreseeable future. An institution with Initial accreditation is expected to undergo a full self-study evaluation in the last year of the Initial accreditation period. |
| Full Accreditation Process |
| Each institution is evaluated on the basis of the WASC criteria and the appropriateness of the school’s stated purpose, schoolwide student goals and the degree to which it accomplishes these.
The full accreditation process has three stages: the self-study, the visit, and the follow-up. A school’s philosophy and the WASC criteria serve as the underlying bases for these stages. |
| Self-Study |
The entire staff and representatives of the student body and community are involved in the preparation of the self-study, which is accomplished over a period of several months. WASC provides special self-study coordinator workshops to assist schools in conducting the self-study. During this phase, all staff members candidly assess the school’s strengths and areas needing improvement with respect to the criteria. Basically, the steps of the self-study are:
Working through numerous committees, staff members summarize their finding of this in-depth assessment which becomes part of a school self-study report. At least four weeks prior to the visit, this completed self-study is shared with members of a Visiting Committee composed of fellow educators. |
| Full Self-Study Visit |
| The visiting committee is usually composed of three to eight people, one of whom is the chairperson. A typical visiting committee is composed of a school principal, a district office administrator, a classroom teacher, a school administrator other than a principal, a representative of a college or university, plus additional members who may be representatives of a state department of education, a county office, or board members. A student may be added to the committee at the request of the school principal. Members of the visiting committee will have attended special accreditation workshops conducted by WASC.
Subsequent to analyzing the self-study report, the visiting committee spends three and one-half days at the school to provide an outside perspective on the quality of the curricular and instructional program provided for students. The visiting team members review student performance data, confer separately with each school committee, observe the school in operation, visit classes, and dialogue with individual administrators, teachers, students and others. Then the visiting committee prepares a report for the school outlining its findings. After the visiting committee report is discussed with the school steering committee and shared with the entire staff, it is formally submitted to the school and the WASC Commission. The visiting committee also recommends a term of accreditation based upon the school’s philosophy, the WASC criteria, the self-study, and its findings during the visit. |
| Commission Action and School Follow-up |
| The Accrediting Commission for Schools meets at regularly scheduled times to consider accreditation for the schools. Prior to each meeting, the Commission members review the visiting committee reports and the recommended terms for the schools. At these sessions, the school’s self-studies are available for reference. The resulting decision of the Commission on a term of accreditation for each school is the composite judgment of the Commission members after examining the data concerning the school.
The term of accreditation is based in part upon the appropriateness of the school’s stated purpose, goals and objectives for an institution of its type and the degree to which these are being met. Another determinant for accreditation is the degree to which the school meets the WASC criteria and other accreditation term factors that are established as general guidelines to determine the effectiveness of a school’s educational program and services. The Commission also takes into consideration the following: the degree to which the school addressed recommendations of the last visiting committee; the school’s use of appropriate student outcome measures to demonstrate evidence of student learning and success; the degree of involvement of all members of the school community in development of the self-study; and the capacity of the school to implement a schoolwide action plan resulting in ongoing improvement. The cycle of self-study, visit and follow-up is normally repeated every six years, a full term. However, schools may receive other terms that include one, two, or three years or denial; in addition, schools may be required to take and report on remedial actions as a condition of continual accreditation. To support and encourage continual school improvement, the Commission will communicate with schools during the cycle through written reports and short visits. Only Commission decisions regarding terms of accreditation of three years or less may be appealed. Any such appeal must be made by the chief administrator(s) of the district and school by letter specifying the basis for the appeal within sixty days after notification of the Commission action. After the visit the SC and chief administrator meet immediately with the Leadership Team to review the Visiting Committee Report and begin the follow-up process. The Leadership Team coordinates the refining and implementation of the action steps for each section of the schoolwide action plan. The narrative suggestions and critical areas for follow-up left by the Visiting Committee should be integrated into the schoolwide action plan. A copy of the modified schoolwide action plan must be sent to the WASC office. Some schools may continue to use the schoolwide focus groups from the basic WASC process as “change agent” committees in the follow-up process. The leadership team involves the total staff in annual assessment of progress, including data analysis about student learning in relation to expected schoolwide learning results and curricular objectives; this may result in modifications of the action plan. If the school annually reviews its plan and progress, the reports generated will comprise the major portion of the next self-study. Most schools will conduct one more annual review in relation to their expected schoolwide learning results, curricular objectives, and WASC criteria and refine their action plan areas for the next three to five years. At the midpoint of the term of accreditation, the Leadership Team prepares a third year progress report summarizing the school’s major accomplishments of the schoolwide action plan and other changes since the visit. The Governing Authority reads, reviews and formally accepts the report which is forwarded to the Accrediting Commission for Schools. Depending upon the term of accreditation, a school may be required to have a one or two day review by two or more members of the original Visiting Committee. Below are brief comments about the ongoing nature of the accreditation process:
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The American School of Ulaanbaatar (A.S.U.) was founded in early 2003 by a group of prominent citizens of Mongolia whose vision was to establish an English language elementary and secondary school to provide a truly international program to Mongolian parents and students.
The goal of the school is to enable all residents of Mongolia to have their children educated in the English language with western teaching methods and learning resources at an affordable level. This vision was realized when a 2.5 hectare tract of land in the east south side of Zaisan was acquired and a state of the art complex was designed by architects in cooperation with an international educational consulting company.
In September 2003, A.S.U. entered into an agreement to have Educan Consultants (Ontario) Ltd. based in Canada , collaborate with the school to provide continuing support, advice and assistance in creating and developing an international program and staff.
In May, 2004, the official ground breaking took place and construction began. The school complex was completed in August 2006. The President of Mongolia officially cut the ribbon opening the school on September 1, 2006.
In its first year of operation ASU enrolled 180 pupils and offered a variety of programs from Kindergarten to Grade 8. Now in its third year, ASU has a student population of 340 and an International teaching facility of 28 from countries such as USA, Canada, Finland, New Zealand, Philippines, India, Korea, China and Mongolia.
During the 2007-08 school years, the school was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (W.A.S.C.). The school operates a full Kindergarten to Grade 10 program and will be expanding to include the last two years of high school as our current grade 10 class continues to achieve success.