Springdale School District Pursues AdvancED Accreditation Renewal

SPRINGDALE -- School District officials are intent on improving classroom environments for students. They say an accreditation renewal process could help them do that.

A team of evaluators recommended the district receive an AdvancED accreditation, and a committee will consider it sometime this month, said Don Love, associate director for the organization in Arkansas. AdvancED is a worldwide, nonprofit accreditation organization. Love retired from the Springdale district where he was assistant superintendent for grades eight through 12 for 10 years..

If the accreditation is received, it will be in addition to Arkansas Department of Education certification, said Megan Witonski, assistant superintendent for innovation, accountability, science, technology, engineering and math in Springdale.

Pursuing the accreditation shows that a school district wants to improve, Love said. It also benefits students because it could give them easier access to highly selective colleges.

Accreditation also gives district officials access to other accredited districts, Witonski said. If an administrator wants advice, he could contact an official at AdvancED for help getting in contact with representatives of other districts.

AdvancED charges districts with 21 to 50 schools, such as Springdale, $2,250 for an external review fee and $1,000 to $2,750 for the lead evaluator, Love said. Half of the school districts in Arkansas are accredited by the organization in addition to some individual schools.

Springdale received its first district accreditation in 2009, which can be renewed every five years, Love said. Bentonville and Fayetteville school districts are not accredited under the organization, but both high schools in Rogers are.

A team of evaluators spent four days in the district in mid-November, Witonski said. They spoke to administrators, board members, parents, students and community members. They also reviewed documents from each school, and made random visits to several schools.

Todd Loftin, principal at Hellstern Middle School, said they were prepared, but surprised when evaluators showed up. He recalled spending an hour with evaluators, other school administrators and instructional facilitators. They spoke about the school and what it offers to students.

Evaluators then spent two to two-and-one-half hours in classrooms, Loftin said. They observed classes and interacted with teachers and students.

"Basically, they had free reign of the school to go wherever they needed," he said.

Evaluators calculate an overall score for the district from three categories, Witonski said. They look at teaching and learning impact, where evaluators consider elements like instructional quality and student performance. They consider leadership capacity, where evaluators look for elements like leadership effectiveness. Finally, they look at resource utilization, where evaluators consider matters like allocation and use of resources. There are also seven subcategories.

The maximum overall score in any of the three categories is 400, Love said. Springdale received a score of 326.02, Witonski said.

District officials also learned what they are doing well and what they need to improve, Witonski said. Evaluators said they could improve by providing technology related professional development for teachers. Witonski said, however, the evaluation team wasn't aware that administrators had started using instructional facilitators in spring 2013 to instruct teachers on technology use.

Each district that is evaluated is informed of at least one aspect to improve, Love said. District officials then have to address the issue in writing within two years of their review.

Evaluators also told district officials they were impressed by the long term leadership of Jim Rollins, who has been superintendent for more than 30 years, Witonski said. They liked that the district had caring and devoted teachers, engaged classrooms and beautiful facilities.