District No. 2 scores high in AdvancED accreditation review

TEN SLEEP – Washakie County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees were presented with the findings of an external review by AdvancED, a non-profit accrediting agency, on Oct. 28.

“I’m very pleased with the results,” reported Superintendent Jimmy Phelps. “I thought the report was very positive.”

According to the AdvancED’s Self-Assessment guidebook, “In order to earn and maintain accreditation, schools must meet the five AdvancED Standards for Quality, engage in a process of continuous improvement and host an External Review at least once every five years.”

The External Review Team, made up of four in-state and two out-of-state members, used insights gathered from a self-survey of students and parents and information obtained during the on-site review to provide feedback to the school and to make an accreditation recommendation. Overall, District No. 2 scored well above the national AdvancED average, with a quality rating of 3.83, a Test Administration rating of 3.83, and Equity of Learning rating of 4.0, and a Quality of Learning rating of 3.0.

AdvancED interviewed 36 “stakeholders” of the district during the process, including students, parents, administrators, teachers and support staff. In the final report, AdvancED noted that they were impressed with how receptive the interviewees were, and had every confidence in the feedback that was provided.

The report also recognized the impact of smaller school systems, such as District No. 2. “The system’s small size contributes to a culture in which efforts are clearly focused on meeting individual student needs, both academic and emotional. The culture of individual care is a product of more than just small class and school size. System leaders and teachers have created structures, such as Pioneer Path and multi-grade elementary classrooms, to ensure that each student benefits from the focused, individualized support of at least one adult advocate. Parents interviewed by the Team confirmed the high level of support and recognized the system’s expectation that all staff members are responsible for the success of all students, not just those officially assigned to them.”

In conclusion, AdvancED noted that “The overall and domain scores can range from 100-400. The domain scores are derived from: the AdvancED Standards and indicators ratings; results of the Analysis of Student Performance; and data from Stakeholder Feedback Surveys (students, parents, and staff).” AdvancED awarded District No. 2 an overall rating of 281.71, above the average score of 278.34. Consequently, the External Review Team recommended to the AdvancED Accreditation Commission that Ten Sleep School earn the distinction of accreditation for another five-year term.