Stephens Co. School System Receives Accreditation Recommendation

The Stephens County school system receives a recommendation for system-level accreditation.

A team from AdvancED, the parent agency of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, presented a brief accreditation report Wednesday to conclude its visit to Stephens County.

At the end of that report, the team said it would recommend Stephens County for a five-year system-level accreditation that would run through June 30, 2019.

Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said he feels the review went well and will provide an opportunity for the school system to learn and grow.

“We are certainly pleased to be completed with the process,” said Dorsey. “We are very appreciative of our staff and community involvement with it. We saw a lot of great participation and we want to thank those that are involved. We certainly know we always have opportunities for growth.”

Meanwhile, Stephens County Board of Education Chair Dr. Elizabeth Pinkerton said she is very happy with the outcome.

“We are delighted with their recommendation for accreditation,” said Dr. Pinkerton.

During the exit report Wednesday, the school system heard from Dr. Rosalyn Wright, a retired educator from Florida who led the accreditation review team.

She reviewed the team’s findings in what she calls a “brief snapshot,” focusing on things they saw as powerful practices, which are things they observe and may have never seen anywhere else, as well as what they see as opportunities for improvement and improvement priorities, which are things that the district is required to work on over the next couple of years.

Wright said they found one powerful practice during their review.

“All students participate in a structure that allows them to be well-known by at least one adult advocate in that student’s school,” said Dr. Wright in the report.

Wright also pointed to some improvement priorities.

She said the first is in the category of leadership capacity, and it is to review, revise, and implement board policies and procedures to ensure the effective administration of the system and its schools.

Wright also listed other improvement priorities in the area of resource utilization, which were to improve upon the school system’s strategic plan and also improve the school system’s technology plan.

Dorsey said he was surprised somewhat at the team’s comments on the strategic plan.

“Being new into the school system myself, one of the (things) that looked like it had been flourished and shared in all kinds of ways in the school system was the strategic plan,” said Dorsey. “Some of the others we see we recognize we all have areas of improvement we can make on those.”

The accreditation team said it will provide a complete final report to the school system in about 30 days.

This is the first-time the Stephens County school system pursued system-level accreditation. Prior to this, accreditations were done at the school level.