I presented on the work that I did with accreditation for my school.

1. Accreditation:
A Tool for Increasing Instructional
Effectiveness
U n i v e r s i t y o f Te x a s A r l i n g t o n
Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Janet Gilroy
February 2012

2. The Problem/Issue
Trinity Christian As a part of the To accomplish
School is seeking accreditation this, a
accreditation with process, a school- comprehensive
Southern wide core scope and
Association of curriculum map sequence must be
Colleges and must be developed for
Schools. developed. each subject.

3. Trinity Christian
School was
founded 25 years
ago with only
grades 1-3.
The school grew to
grades K-12 across
three divisions.
A school-wide core
curriculum map
never was
developed.
A core map is an Context
essential element
for accreditation.

4. Literature Review
Accreditation: helps schools improve their instructional effectiveness
through an initial and a continual process of review.
connects schools to a large network that facilitates
continued improvement in instructional effectiveness.
eases the transfer of students from one accredited
school to another.
authenticates the quality of a student's record to college
representatives, thus helping with college admission.
promotes accountability through ongoing external
evaluation of the institution or program.

5. Literature Review
Accreditation everyone that a neutral, external party (the accrediting
organization) has reviewed the quality of education
assures: provided and has found it to be satisfactory.
parents and the public that the school is committed to
raising student achievement, providing a safe and
enriching learning environment, and maintaining an
efficient and effective operation.
families and the community that the school is able to
translate its vision into reality.
governmental agencies that that the school is a viable
educational institution.

6. Purpose & Goals
The purpose and goals were to…
…create a
comprehensive …provide
scope and …reveal gaps consistency of
sequence (S&S) for and/or unintended learning objectives
each subject within overlaps in the for courses that
the foreign curriculum. require more than
language one teacher.
department.

7. Goals & Objectives
The goals and objectives were to…
…link all course
…encourage objectives to the …see where we are
reflective practice institutional in relation to where
among teachers to objectives of we want to go.
improve fostering
instructional knowledge,
effectiveness. character, and
service.

8. The comprehensive S&S was to
contain:
Methods  Course descriptions
The expected final
product drove the  Course objectives tied to Core
data collection and Curriculum Goals
analysis for this
project.  Unit descriptions with:
 Unit sequence
 Unit topic and time frame
 Unit objectives tied to Core Curriculum
Goals
 Teaching methods
 Methods of learning assessment

9. Methods: Data
Data Request Data Format
Each foreign language This data for each course
teacher was asked for: was organized using the
 a course description, form below for easier
 course objectives, based analysis.
on the three pillars of the
school’s mission:
knowledge, character
and service, and
 unit objectives.

10. Methods: Analysis
Course
Objectives •adhere to Bloom’s
•is aligned with state and Taxonomy?
national standards of • incorporate and work •have inconsistencies,
foreign language with the school’s omissions, or unintended
mission?
instruction? overlaps?
• align with and
accomplish the Course
Description?
Course Unit
Description Objectives

11. Methods: Analysis
An iterative process was developed so that after
each step, any issues were sent back to
teachers for review and amendment.
The final step was to connect course and unit
objectives to school-wide Core Curriculum
Goals.
If an objective could not be connected to a
core goal, then it was either rewritten or
discarded.
The end product was the comprehensive S&S,
which is being used to develop the Core
Curriculum Map.

12. Findings  Most courses needed at least
Every teacher said
that the process…
one iteration.
…helped them to  There were some gaps in the
formulate better
objectives, aligned original scope and sequence
with their true
curriculum.
documents, but there were no
…showed them
unintended overlaps.
where they had gaps
in their S&S.  Some objectives were not
…improved their being assessed, either formally
reflective practice by
forcing them to
or informally.
deliberate on desired
learning outcomes.

13. Conclusions
The process of developing a complete S&S
was useful for encouraging reflective practice
among teachers, especially new teachers.
By encouraging reflective practice, the
process of accreditation helps teachers to
improve their instructional practice.
Teachers have well-developed course
objectives and well-planned means to fulfill
and assess them.
Now all the components are available for the
development of a Core Curriculum Map for
the school.

14. Implications & Future Action Research
• A regular curricular review schedule should be
developed as the school continues to expand.
• A review schedule will encourage teachers to
Implications reflect on course and unit objective alignment.
• How much of our curriculum is driven by textbooks
vs. the curriculum driving textbook selection?
Future • The results of that study would determine whether
Research another iteration of this process is necessary.

15. References
 The value of accreditation. (2010, June). Retrieved from CHEA.
 Bassett, P. F. (2004, Fall). Accountability and independence for schools. Retrieved from National
Association of Independent Schools:
http://www.nais.org/publications/ismagazinearticle.cfm?ItemNumber=147077
 Bruner, D. Y., & Brantley, L. L. (2004). Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Accreditation:
Impact on elementary student performance. (G. V. Glass, Ed.) Educational Policy Analysis Archives,
12(34), 1-19.
 CPSS Assoc. Dir. (2005, September 27). The meaning and value of accreditation.
 Dewey, M. (2012, February 2). Upper School Principal. (J. Gilroy, Interviewer)
 Gow, P. (2011, Summer). Harry Potter and the accreditor's nightmare. Retrieved from National
Association of Independent Schools:
http://www.nais.org/publications/ismagazinearticle.cfm?ItemNumber=155238
 SACS-CASI. (2004, August 11). Accreditation benefits.