In addition, accredited school systems pay accreditation fees that are used to provide accredited schools and school systems with research-based standards, nationally-trained quality assurance review team chairs, high-quality resources and tools, and ongoing professional development. The annual dues for the school system are based on the number of schools under the jurisdiction of the school system. Additionally, the school system is responsible for a District Accreditation Quality Assurance Review Visit fee assessed once every five years to offset the costs associated with conducting the Quality Assurance Review.

Timing	School System's Responsibilities
Every year	Adhere to the AdvancED Accreditation Standards for Quality School Systems. Engage in ongoing self-assessment and continuous improvement. Monitor and ensure that every school in the system maintains adherence to the AdvancED Accreditation Standards for Quality Schools. Document results of improvement efforts. Update school and system demographic and contact information. Notify AdvancED of any substantive changes in the school system's ability to meet the standards.
Between Six Weeks and Six Months before Quality Assurance Review	Prepare and submit the Standards Assessment Report. The report helps the school system prepare for the review and provides the review team with the basis for its evaluation.
Year of Quality Assurance Review	Prepare for the Quality Assurance Review team, working with the team chair to establish the review schedule and make arrangements for the team. Gather evidence and documentation in preparation for the team's review of the school system's adherence to the standards. Host the Quality Assurance Review team. Share the findings from the Quality Assurance Review team report with the school system. Begin acting on the team's recommendations.
Year following the Quality Assurance Review Visit	Act on the team's recommendations and document progress.
Two Years following the Quality Assurance Review Visit	Act on the team's recommendations and document progress. Submit a two year progress report on the school system's response to the team's recommendations.

Accredited school systems adhere to the standards and use them as a tool for ongoing self-assessment. They use the standards to continually ask themselves, "What more can we be doing to benefit our students?"

Accredited school systems use a disciplined and system-wide approach to document and maintain evidence of their adherence to the standards. They are continually ready to answer the question, "How do we know we meet the standards?"

Preparation. To prepare for the review, the school system completes the Standards Assessment Report between six weeks and six months prior to the scheduled review. The report engages the school system, its schools, and community in an in-depth self assessment of each of the seven AdvancED standards. It helps the school system identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement and provides the review team with a starting point for their work.

  District Standards Assessment Report (Word)

  Overall Assessment Rubrics (Word)

The school system then gathers documentation to provide evidence and demonstrate adherence to the standards. The aim is to minimize additional paperwork for the school system and allow the school system to use existing materials and artifacts to assure the review team that it has met the standards. The Examples of Evidence resource helps district personnel consider the range of artifacts and other evidence available in their district that demonstrate the district's adherence to the AdvancED quality standards. The Essential Artifacts identifies those artifacts that the district needs to make available to the Quality Assurance Review team (either in hard copy or electronic form).

  Examples of Evidence for Districts

  Essential Artifacts (Word)

The school system works with the Quality Assurance Review team chair to define the schedule for the review team and ensure that the travel and accommodation needs of team members are met.

The Team. The Quality Assurance Review team is led by an AdvancED trained and certified team chair who is appointed to the school system by AdvancED. Team members are selected for the team by AdvancED with input and discussion from the team chair to ensure that team members reflect areas of need/focus for the school system. The size of the team varies depending on the size of the school system (number of schools), with teams ranging from 6 to 15 members for school systems with less than 50 schools. School systems in excess of 50 schools will have teams ranging from 18 to 36 members.

Length of Visit. The review is scheduled by AdvancED and encompasses three days on site, with the team arriving the day before the visit for an Orientation Session conducted by the team chair.

The Review. While on site, the Quality Assurance Review Team provides an orientation, conducts interviews with representatives of the school system, its schools and community, including the superintendent and all members of the governing board, visits schools and classrooms, collects and reviews evidence, and meets to review findings. The team provides an oral exit report to the school system at a called public meeting of the governing board at the conclusion of the visit, highlighting commendations, opportunities for improvement, and recommendations for action. The team also recommends an accreditation status for the school system.

The Report. Following the visit, the chair with input from the review team completes the Quality Assurance Review Report and submits it to a nationally-trained reader who reviews the report to ensure it is well written, is of high quality, and contains targeted recommendations that will enhance the school system's capacity to improve system and school effectiveness and student performance. The school system then receives the final report and uses the recommendations in the report to guide improvement efforts.

Flexibility in Choice of Process. School systems and their schools may use the improvement process of their choice that meets the requirements of the AdvancED standards. This may include the AdvancED Breakthrough School Improvement Series, the use of the state's improvement model, or any number of improvement processes that school systems have found to be effective in enhancing organizational effectiveness and student performance.

Efficacy of Process. The Quality Assurance Review team examines the quality of the implementation of the process and looks for evidence of the effectiveness of the chosen improvement process. The team offers guidance and support on ways to enhance the school system's continuous improvement efforts.

Two Year Progress Report. Two years following the Quality Assurance Review team visit, the school system submits a progress report detailing the actions and progress the school system has made on the team's recommendation. The progress report is intended to serve as a tool for school systems to stay focused on the recommendations of the team and to use the team report as a guide to enhancing their improvement efforts. The report is also used as a monitoring tool by AdvancED to provide assistance to the school system and to ensure that the school system is maintaining the expectations for accreditation.