Hart Co. Charter System Receives National Accreditation

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

The Hart County Charter School System is the recipient of an AdvancED School System Accreditation from the AdvancED Accreditation Commission.

The national commission confers the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement accreditation seal.

Hart County School Superintendent Jay Floyd said this means that the system and all of its schools are accredited, and recognized across the nation as a quality school system.

Floyd said the school system received the accreditation on their first application attempt.

“School System Accreditation as conferred by the AdvancED Accreditation Commission provides the Hart County Charter System a nationally-recognized mark of quality for our system and all the schools within our system,” shared Mr. Floyd. “It demonstrates to our community our commitment to excellence, our openness to external review and feedback, and our desire to be the best we can be on behalf of the students we serve.”

Floyd said the accreditation process involves three ongoing components: meeting high quality standards; implementing a continuous process of improvement; and engaging in quality assurance through internal and external review.

According to Floyd, the Hart County system was also commended for work in five key learning areas.

“Of the seven domains, we were well above the global average in five of those domains,” he said. “They include, equitable learning environment, supportive learning environment, active learning environment, a well-managed learning environment, and indigenous learning environment. We were very excited about that evaluation.”

Some of the areas Floyd said he wants to continue to work on in the Hart County school system include getting more stakeholders involved in the importance of a quality school system.

He said that includes, local citizens, businesses, as well as teachers, staff and students.

The system’s accreditation is for a five year term with regular monitoring of progress and reporting occurring during the term.

AdvancED is the world’s largest education community, serving and engaging 30,000 public and private schools and school systems in more than 70 countries and serving over 16 million students.

AdvancED is the parent organization of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, Northwest Accreditation Commission and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement.