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Hillsdale County Intermediate
School District
Oral Exit Report
Quality Assurance Review Team
Education Service Agency Accreditation
ESA 2008-09
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23,000 public and private schools
30 states and Navajo Nation
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15 million students
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Dedicated to Advancing Excellence in Education through:
Accreditation
 Standards, continuous improvement, quality
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Research and Innovation
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ESA Accreditation
A national protocol for education service
agencies committed to systemic,
systematic, and sustainable
improvement
• Builds the capacity of the ESA and its
partners to increase organizational
effectiveness and sustain student learning
• Stimulates and supports improvement and
effectiveness throughout the agency
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ESA Accreditation
• Ensures all people, processes, departments and
operations of the agency work in concert
• Strengthens efforts to meet accountability
requirements
• Encourages growth beyond compliance to
achieve excellence
• Promotes continuous not episodic improvement
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Systems Approach
ESA Accreditation applies a systems approach to
improvement. It examines how all elements of the
agency work in concert for the benefit of improving
learner performance. It looks for examples of
systemic, systematic, and sustainable improvement.
 Systemic improvement – using and aligning the
interdependent functions within and across the agency to
produce improvement
 Systematic improvement – fostering improvement efforts
that are regular and predictable at all levels of the agency
 Sustainable improvement – maintaining improvements over
time
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Pillars of Accreditation
To earn and maintain ESA Accreditation,
agencies must:
1. Meet the AdvancED Quality
Standards
2. Engage in Continuous
Improvement
3. Demonstrate Quality
Assurance through Internal
and External Review
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Expectations
Agency
• Meets the AdvancED Standards for Quality Education
Service Agencies
• Identifies and guides the implementation of a systemic
continuous improvement process
• Monitors all schools it operates through a quality assurance
process
• Prepares and hosts a QAR visit every five years
Schools It Operates
• Meet the AdvancED Standards for Quality Schools
• Implement the agency’s continuous improvement process
• Participate in the agency’s quality assurance process
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Purpose & Role of the Quality
Assurance Review Team
1. Determine the extent to which the agency
meets the AdvancED standards.
2. Assess the efficacy of the agency’s
improvement efforts.
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of the agency’s
methods for quality assurance.
4. Provide high-quality feedback with clear
recommendations and actionable next steps.
5. Make an accreditation recommendation.
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Activities of the Quality
Assurance Review Team
• Artifacts/documents review
• Interviews
• Visits to agency-operated schools and
a sample of school districts it serves
• Observations
• Professional deliberations
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Interviews with Constituents and
Other Stakeholders
• During the on-site Quality Assurance Review,
team members interviewed:
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The Superintendent
3 members of the Governing Board
26 members of agency staff
9 district-based administrators
9 school-based administrators
25 teachers and staff
15 parents, community members, and business partners
38 students
TOTAL of 126 constituents and other stakeholders
 45 classroom visits
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Criteria Used to Arrive at the
Team’s Findings
• When reviewing evidence to arrive at its
findings, the team:
 Sought an agency-wide perspective;
 Pursued evidence that could be
corroborated through multiple sources;
 Examined the context and capacity of the
agency in relation to its vision, mission, and
beliefs; and
 Applied the criteria for accreditation.
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Structure of Team’s Findings
Narratives
Strengths
 Strong and effective practices, processes, or systems
which benefit the agency
Opportunities for Improvement
 Suggestions related to individual standards that can help
the agency move forward with improvement efforts
Commendations
 Significant accomplishments in meeting and/or
exceeding accreditation standards and requirements
Recommendations
 Actions that will enhance agency effectiveness and
improve student learning and district partner
performance
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Strengths
• Collaboration – The ISD provides support and
leadership across the county to innumerable
groups and has developed quality, on-going
relationships that help resolve issues
throughout the county for the benefit of
students, families, and communities.
• Partnerships – Established with local districts,
local service agencies, colleges, other ISDs,
MDE, Michigan Works!, legal system, Hillsdale
county and other entities. These trusted
partnerships allow for meaningful, high quality
collaboration.
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Strengths
• Responsiveness to constituent needs. There exists
a pervasive attitude of deliberately acting to solve
problems and find solutions.
• Provide a variety of services focused on identified
needs. Some are typical, some are unique, all are
in support of the people of Hillsdale County.
• Alignment of mission statements across
departments and focused on continuous
improvement efforts.
© 2008 AdvancED
Commendations
The Quality Assurance Review Team commends
HCISD for:
• Collaboration, partnerships, and county wide
service to schools and students. There exists a
pervasive culture of collaboration and continuous
improvement and the efforts to move from “school
improvement” to “continuous improvement” are
commendable. The ISD effectively aligns
resources, human and financial, to support the
work of the ISD and its partners.
• The consistent commitment, passion, and
investment to support the achievement of all
students throughout Hillsdale County.
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Commendations
• Innovative approaches to addressing
student needs despite challenging
economic constraints.
• Commitment to development and support
of professional learning based on
alignment of goals to local districts’ and
ISD’s mission.
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Challenges
• Increasing need for services for students
and families in Hillsdale County.
• Providing leadership and innovation across
the county while responding to unique
local perspectives and challenges.
• Developing capacity to effectively organize,
analyze, and use data to inform decision
making that positively impacts effective
teaching and learning in local schools and
the ISD.
• Building and maintaining capacity for
sustaining these continuous improvement
efforts as changes occur and people
change.
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Recommendations
• The Quality Assurance Review Team recommends
that HCISD :
 Develop and implement a comprehensive
system of organizational evaluation based on
clearly defined performance measures through
which it will effectively organize, analyze, and
use data to inform decision making that
positively impacts effective teaching and
learning in local schools and the ISD.
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Recommendations
 Build institutional capacity to sustain
improvement efforts and services that
are independent of individuals.
 Strategically strengthen communication
methods to better inform constituents of
the services available through the ISD.
Celebrate successes and share data that
reflects progress toward goal
accomplishment.
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Next Steps
• Written report of findings submitted within 20
days
• After receipt of the report, the agency is expected
to:
 Review and communicate the findings.
 Address the recommendations.
 Monitor accreditation standards on an ongoing
basis.
 Monitor strategies for improvement.
 Submit the Accreditation Progress Report.
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Accreditation Recommendation
• The Quality Assurance Review Team recommends
to the AdvancED Accreditation Commission that
the Hillsdale County Intermediate School District
be awarded Education Service Agency
Accreditation as a Quality ESA.
• Once reviewed and approved by the AdvancED
Accreditation Commission, the agency and all of
the schools it operates are granted a 5-year term
accreditation.
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Final Thoughts
• On behalf of the Quality Assurance Team, we
extend:
 Our appreciation for your hospitality,
support, and professionalism;
 Our respect and acknowledgement of the
quality of the ESA; and
 Our congratulations for your progress
toward achieving ESA Accreditation as a
quality system.
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AdvancED Accreditation
for Quality Education Service Agencies
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