Douglas Co. Schools Earn Advanced Accreditation

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — Douglas County schools have been recommended for advanced accreditation status after a recent evaluation.

AdvanceED, an internationally recognized accrediting board, has recommended the system for National District Reaccreditation. The announcement was made at a special called school board meeting on Wednesday.

The school system undergoes accreditation every five years and was last awarded d accreditation in March, 2012.

The overall score for DCSS on AdvancEd’s evaluation tool was 307.93, well above the average score of 278.94 for all school systems during the prior year.

"We rarely see a score in the 300's," said Bill Rivenbark, team leader and presenter, at the meeting. "Your system should be very proud of this evaluation."

A team of eight AdvancED professionals made a quality assurance team visit to the school system Sunday through Wednesday. The team spent Monday at the central office, where they heard an overview presentation from Superintendent Gordon Pritz as well as presentations from other school system personnel

Also on Monday, the team interviewed Pritz, members of the Board of Education, a panel of 26 parents, business and community leaders and principals from all schools. On Tuesday, team members from AdvancED spent a half day at the following schools where they observed classes and school procedures, met with administrators, and talked with students and staff: Beulah, Burnett, Holly Springs, and Winston Elementary Schools; Chapel Hill and Stewart Middle Schools; and Alexander and Douglas County High Schools.

In all, the AdvancEd team interviewed 271 school system stakeholders, including 102 students, and visited 103 classrooms.

"We are pleased with the results of the AdvancEd review and appreciate the hard work of their team," said Pritz in a news release. "The preliminary report from this outside agency affirms the success that our students, staff, teachers, and administrators have experienced over the last few years.

"We also appreciate the work of our school and system personnel who diligently prepared for the review over the last several months. We always learn a lot about ourselves through this process, and we were affirmed on a lot of what we are already doing."

AdvancED was created through a 2006 merger of several accreditation boards including the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that conducts rigorous, on-site external reviews of Pre-K – 12 schools and school systems.

The organization serves over 32,000 schools and school systems across the U.S. and 70 other nations.

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