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Team Visit Report
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Standards for Accreditation
The Standards for Accreditation provide information and data that portray the school’s capacity to produce the levels of student performance the school and its community of stakeholders desire and expect. This section of the self-study consists of the results of a self-assessment of the school’s adherence to the Middle States Standards for Accreditation Key Concepts and Indicators of Quality.
The 5 Standards for Accreditation and 23 Key Concepts reflect research-based best practices for quality in schools. The Standards also represent the organizational “building blocks” that need to be in place to produce high levels of student performance. The self-assessment leads to identifying the school’s strengths and areas in need of improvement.
The self-assessment of the Standards Key Concepts also provides those responsible for developing the school’s Plan for Growth and Improvement with a good understanding of the current status of the school.
Standards for Accreditation for Schools
- Foundations
- Governance and Organization
- Student Well-Being
- Resources
- Teaching and Learning
- Special Purpose Indicators
Indicators for specific areas not fully addressed in the 5 Standards and may only apply to certain programs or types of schools.
Instructions:
- In its Self-Study Document, the school has reported the results of its self-assessment of the degree to which it meets the Middle States Standards for Accreditation Key Concepts and their Indicators of Quality.
- The protocol requires the school to provide a self-assessment of whether it meets each of the 5 Standards for Accreditation and 23 Key Concepts and a rating for each Indicator of Quality. The rating should reflect the information provided in evidence and documentation and feedback provided by the school’s community of stakeholders.
- As a Visiting Team, take into consideration the self-assessed ratings and combine them with the observations completed and evidence that has been reviewed and provide Observations (and Commendations) and Recommendations in the appropriate spaces.
FOUNDATIONS
Standard for Accreditation
Introduction: Every effective school improvement process must begin with a clear definition of its preferred future and the understanding of the means to achieve it. MSA believes that the school’s purpose and direction can best be expressed through three Foundation Documents: a Mission, a set of Core Values, and a Profile of a Graduate.
A. THE VISITING TEAM’S ASSESSMENT OF THE SCHOOL’S ADHERENCE TO THIS STANDARD FOR ACCREDITATION
Instructions:
- After considering all of the evidence seen and heard during the visit, make a determination whether the school meets this Standard for Accreditation. Indicate by checking the appropriate box as to whether or not they meet the Standard.
- If the determination is that the school does not meet this Standard, the evidence to support this assessment—requirements of the Standard’s Key Concepts and/or the Indicators of Quality that are not met—must be listed in the Recommended Stipulations in Section C, below.
B. EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE TEAM’S ASSESSMENT
Instructions:
- Indicate by checking all appropriate boxes the types of evidence used by the Team in its evaluation of the school’s adherence to this Standard.
- Add additional lines as needed to include any types of evidence used but not included on the list.
- If required evidence is not present (indicated by *), the Team must provide the school with a monitoring issue or stipulation.
MISSION
A school’s Mission should reflect the deepest desires of the school’s community of stakeholders for what they want the school to become—its future in terms of what it will do for its students. The mission expresses what the adults in the school community commit themselves to doing for the benefit of the students.
A mission statement should describe in broad and visionary terms what the school is striving to become. A mission should be outcome-based, providing clarity regarding the school’s audience (whom it serves), its action (what it commits to doing for its audience), its aim (the purposes for which it exists), and its means (how, in broad terms, it will achieve its purposes).
It is not appropriate for a Visiting Team to determine whether the school’s Mission is the right or wrong mission for the school or a good or bad mission. Nor is it appropriate for the Team to require changes to the Mission.
A Visiting Team will, however, offer an objective perspective regarding whether any elements of the Mission are unclear or seem inconsistent or incomplete. The Team will also try to ascertain whether the school’s community of stakeholders support the Mission and are “walking the talk.” It is then for the school to decide if the Team’s comments are legitimate and relevant.
Instruction: Copy from the Self-Study Document and paste the school’s Mission into the space below.
The school’s Mission is:
CORE VALUES
Core Values serve as the foundation of a strong strategic plan. They are the formal expression of a school’s fundamental values and serve as its ethical code. Core Values describe the moral character of a school. In a planning process involving diverse stakeholder groups, they represent the composite of the personal values held by individual planning team members.
Because core values are a matter of faith, not a matter of fact, they express the school’s deepest convictions outlining what members of the school’s community of stakeholders are willing to “go to the mat” defending.
Only members of the school community can identify their deeply held core values. A Visiting Team can, however, offer an objective perspective on what is unclear or seems inconsistent or incomplete in the school’s Core Values. Ultimately, however, it is the school that has to decide if the Team’s comments are legitimate and relevant.
Instruction: Copy from the Self-Study Document and paste the school’s Core Values into the space below.
The school’s Core Values are:
PROFILE OF GRADUATES
The Profile of Graduates provides the answer to the following question: When our students have completed our entire educational program and have had the benefit of the services and activities provided by the institution and its community:
- What do we expect them to know?
- What do we expect them to be able to do with what they know?
- What qualities or characteristics do we want them to demonstrate?
A Profile of Graduates:
- Describes the students at the point of exit from the institution.
- States the values, achievement, and readiness that each student will manifest upon graduation.
- Should be considered both as a Bill of Rights and a set of corresponding responsibilities for students, faculty, staff, administration, and the institution’s community.
- Defines the outcomes each and every student will attain if the mission is operative and appropriately translated into programs and services.
A Profile of Graduates serves to:
- Translate the identity, vision, and values expressed in the beliefs and mission into statements that describe student outcomes.
- Translate and transform concepts from the ideal and global to specific expression in the development of a student in the institution.
- Give expression to what the mission means in the operational life of the institution.
- Define an outline or shape each student is expected to grow into regardless of specific courses taken or post-graduation plans.
- Provide a concrete reference point for faculty, staff, and the institution’s community when designing curriculum, instructional experiences, service programs, auxiliary resources, and student and family services.
Instruction: Copy from the Self-Study Document and paste the school’s Profile of Graduates into the space below.
The school’s Profile of Graduates is:
OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE SCHOOL’S FOUNDATION DOCUMENTS
Instructions:
Provide any observations and recommendations on the school’s Foundation Documents.
The Team’s Observations on the Foundation Documents:
The Team’s Recommendations on the Foundation Documents:
C. THE VISITING TEAM’S OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Observations
In this section, the Team lists: 1) any general observations regarding the degree to which the school meets each Key Concept and its Indicators of Quality, and 2) any areas in which the school exceeds the requirements of this Standard, the Key Concepts, and the Indicators of Quality.
Instruction: In the space provided below, describe in bulleted form general observations regarding the evidence seen and heard that describes the school’s adherence to each Key Concept and its Indicators of Quality.
Key Concept F1:
The Foundation Documents are clearly aligned to the school’s preferred future.
Key Concept F2:
The Foundation Documents are reflective of the community’s expectations.
Key Concept F3:
The Foundation Documents are used as a guide for decision-making.
Commendations
Instruction: In the space provided below, describe in bulleted form ways in which the school should be commended for meeting or exceeding the expectations of this standard. Delete this section if there are no commendations for this standard.
The Visiting Team commends the school for meeting or exceeding the expectations in the following ways:
Recommendations
In this section, the Team lists any recommendations to the school regarding how it can improve the degree to which it meets the requirements of this Standard’s Key Concepts and/or its Indicators of Quality. Recommendations are suggestions by the Team, but the school is not required to accept or act on them.
The Visiting Team recommends:
Recommended Monitoring Issues
In this section, the Team lists any requirements of this Standard’s Key Concepts and/or its Indicators of Quality that require ongoing monitoring. Monitoring Issues refer to requirements that are not completely absent but that are met only partially and are either in need of completion or improvement. Monitoring issues must be addressed satisfactorily by the mid-term of the school’s term of accreditation.
In the table below, list the specific requirement(s) of the Key Concept(s) and/or Indicator(s) of Quality school meets only partially.
- If a requirement of the Key Concept or an Indicator is met only partially, include the number of the Key Concept or Indicator in the No. column and copy and paste the Requirement of the Key Concept or Indicator word for word in the “Requirement” column in the table below.
- State the action that is recommended that will result in the school’s meeting fully the requirement(s) of the Key Concept and/or Indicator(s) of Quality.
- If there are no recommended Monitoring Issues, place an X next to the word “NONE”.
| No. | Requirement of the Key Concept or Indicator | Recommended Action |
| NONE | ||
Recommended Stipulations
In this section, the Team lists any requirement(s) of this Standard’s Key Concepts and/or its Indicators of Quality the school does not meet and, therefore, must be added as a stipulation to the school’s accreditation.
In the table below, list the specific Requirement(s) of the Key Concept(s) and/or Indicator(s) of Quality the school does not meet.
- If a Key Concept or Indicator is not met, include the number of the Key Concept or Indicator in the No. column and copy and paste the Requirement of the Key Concept or Indicator of Quality word for word in the “Requirement” column in the table below.
- If the Team’s recommendation is that this Standard is not met, there must be a sufficient number of Requirements of the Key Concepts and its Indicators of Quality to support this assessment.
- State the action that is recommended that will result in the school’s meeting fully the requirement(s) of the Key Concept(s) and/or Indicator(s) of Quality. If there are no recommended stipulations, place an X next to the word “NONE.”
| No. | Requirement of the Key Concept or Indicator | Recommended Action |
| NONE | ||
