District plans to use AFG model.
By: Lea Kahn
There are two ways to gain accreditation and approval by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools every 10 years by looking back or looking ahead.
The Lawrence Township public school system prefers to gain its approval by looking ahead, through the Accreditation For Growth (AFG) model, said Dr. Walter C. Woolley, director of strategic planning for the school district.
The school district was accredited 10 years ago by the Middle States Association, and now it is time to seek accreditation for the next 10-year cycle, Dr. Woolley said. Approval by the nonprofit group is important because it confers a degree of credibility on the district, he added.
"We have chosen to use the AFG process because it is a strategic planning process that looks to the future," Dr. Woolley said. "The past was wonderful, but the future is where we are going."
The more traditional approach looks to a school district’s past achievements. A school district that uses the traditional approach would list the number of sports teams it fields, the number of clubs it offers, the number of courses offered, and the amount of money spent on maintenance, he said.
But a district that uses the AFG approach forces a school district to examine its purpose, he said. It creates an environment in which school district officials begin to look at the district and examine why it exists. It also helps officials direct their efforts at developing procedures to achieve those goals, he said.
"What is the real reason that our schools exist?" Dr. Woolley asked. "The Lawrence Township school district says it exists to provide extraordinary learning for all students. The schools have to build programs around that realization.
"A number of issues pop right out at you," he said. "What constitutes ‘extraordinary?’ How do you know when students have learned whatever extraordinary learning you are addressing?
"To ‘provide extraordinary learning for all students’ sounds like a simple statement, and the mission is straightforward," he said. "But there are a lot of issues that need to be discussed and addressed in order to develop a plan to meet our mission."
Those discussions are being carried out school by school, through special committees made up of teachers, staff, administrators, parents and interested community members, Dr. Woolley said. Each school must come up with its own objectives and a plan to reach them, he said. The schools are putting the finishing touches to those plans now.
"We have tried to focus on critical issues in the schools that assure student success over the long haul," he said. Literacy and character development are two fundamental issues that have been identified by all seven schools, he added.
The focus on literacy means the district wants all children to learn to read by the end of first grade. Children who can read by the end of first grade are more likely to have a successful, enjoyable school experience, he said.
Character development is important because young people must learn how to work together, he said. Corporations have said the biggest challenges they face in ensuring productivity is finding a work force that knows how to work in a team environment, he said.
Testing will be required to help school district officials find out if they have met those goals, Dr. Woolley said. State-mandated tests will be helpful, but the district also plans to develop its own tests to determine if the goals have been met, he said.
"For example, to measure literacy, we want to measure a student’s written communications skills," he said. "Teachers will be trained by professionals at the Educational Testing Service to learn how to score student writings in a consistent, objective way.
"We are also developing ways to measure good character," he said. "At the high school, it could be arriving at class on time. In the elementary schools, a student could get a special award for showing kindness."
Once the plans have been submitted to the Middle States Association, the written plans will be examined to determine if they are useful and will accomplish what the district has set out to do, he said.
In May, the Middle States Association will send a team of 23 educators to visit each school to validate that what they have seen in the written plans and what they see in the schools are compatible, he said.
Subsequently, the school district must report on the progress it has made in meeting the performance goals it has set out for itself, Dr. Woolley said. The reports must be filed annually. The Middle States Association will visit the schools again in three years.
"The AFG process gives us something to use when we are finished (writing the plan)," Dr. Woolley said. "When we finish in May, we will have something to guide us toward the future. That’s what we should be doing writing plans that will be used and not put on a shelf."

