The Quality Assurance Review

Purpose. Once every five years, the school system hosts a Quality Assurance Review team. The purpose of the Quality Assurance Review is to:

1.	Evaluate the school system's adherence to the standards.
2.	Assess the effectiveness of the school system's improvement efforts.
3.	Review performance results and how those results are used to inform improvement efforts.
4.	Provide high-quality feedback with clear recommendations and actionable next steps.
5.	Make an accreditation recommendation.

Preparation.
To prepare for the review, the school system completes the Standards Assessment Report between six weeks and six months prior to the scheduled review. The report engages the school system, its schools, and community in an in-depth self assessment of each of the seven AdvancED standards. It helps the school system identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement and provides the review team with a starting point for their work.

The school system then gathers documentation to provide evidence and demonstrate adherence to the standards. The aim is to minimize additional paperwork for the school system and allow the school system to use existing materials and artifacts to assure the review team that it has met the standards. The Examples of Evidence resource helps district personnel consider the range of artifacts and other evidence available in their district that demonstrate the district's adherence to the AdvancED quality standards. The Essential Artifacts identifies those artifacts that the district needs to make available to the Quality Assurance Review team (either in hard copy or electronic form).

The school system works with the Quality Assurance Review team chair to define the schedule for the review team and ensure that the travel and accommodation needs of team members are met.

The Team.
The Quality Assurance Review team is led by an AdvancED trained and certified team chair who is appointed to the school system by AdvancED. Team members are selected for the team by AdvancED with input and discussion from the team chair to ensure that team members reflect areas of need/focus for the school system. The size of the team varies depending on the size of the school system (number of schools), with teams ranging from 6 to 15 members for school systems with less than 50 schools. School systems in excess of 50 schools will have teams ranging from 18 to 36 members.

Length of Visit.
The review is scheduled by AdvancED and encompasses three days on site, with the team arriving the day before the visit for an Orientation Session conducted by the team chair.
The Review. While on site, the Quality Assurance Review Team provides an orientation, conducts interviews with representatives of the school system, its schools and community, including the superintendent and all members of the governing board, visits schools and classrooms, collects and reviews evidence, and meets to review findings. The team provides an oral exit report to the school system at a called public meeting of the governing board at the conclusion of the visit, highlighting commendations, opportunities for improvement, and recommendations for action. The team also recommends an accreditation status for the school system.

The Report.
Following the visit, the chair with input from the review team completes the Quality Assurance Review Report and submits it to a nationally-trained reader who reviews the report to ensure it is well written, is of high quality, and contains targeted recommendations that will enhance the school system's capacity to improve system and school effectiveness and student performance. The school system then receives the final report and uses the recommendations in the report to guide improvement efforts.

Source: AdvancEd