Powell school district receives positive report from accreditation team

Posted 10/29/15

“You have a wonderful community, and you’ve got a great school district,” said Steve Epperson of Illinois, lead evaluator with the AdvancED team. “I have 11 grandchildren, and I would be as pleased as could be if any one of those 11 were …

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Powell school district receives positive report from accreditation team

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After visiting 106 local classrooms, talking with 301 people and spending several days in Powell, an accreditation team gave Park County School District No. 1 a glowing review last week.

“You have a wonderful community, and you’ve got a great school district,” said Steve Epperson of Illinois, lead evaluator with the AdvancED team. “I have 11 grandchildren, and I would be as pleased as could be if any one of those 11 were going to school right here.”

A few members of the accreditation team said they’d like to move to Powell to work in the school district, and everyone on the eight-member team shared high praise for Powell schools.

“Honestly, I’m amazed and blown away by what you guys are doing here,” said Rob Black of Cheyenne, an education consultant with the Wyoming Department of Education. “The buy-in from the community, from the top all the way down is just amazing. You’ve got a lot to be proud of — keep up the good work.”

It’s evident that the Powell school district puts children first, the team said in its report.

“I was just overwhelmed with the positive report and mainly the focus about our employees taking care of children — that’s what we’re here for,” said Kevin Mitchell, Park County School District No. 1 superintendent.

Powell schools are accredited by the State Board of Education every year, and the state requires school districts to undergo an audit by an external accreditation team every five years, Mitchell said. AdvancED, an international organization, is hired by the Wyoming Department of Education to complete the audits and external reviews in school districts across the state.

Epperson said Powell’s accreditation recommendation was “pretty much a given a long, long time ago.”

“With the work you guys are doing, that was never really a question. We certainly will be recommending that,” he said.

He commended the Powell district for the “very high level of quality here. We respect that and certainly notice that.”

The Powell school district scored higher than the AdvancED international average in every category on the organization’s Index of Education Quality. The district’s overall rating was 306.4 — 28 points higher than the international average of 278.34.

“Excellent, excellent scores,” Epperson said.

Leading up to the accreditation team’s visit, Powell school administrators completed a self-evaluation, which ended up closely aligning with the AdvancED team’s report.

“We very much validated the self-assessment that the district did — we were within one-tenth of a point of the way that you rated yourself,” Epperson said. “It doesn’t always work out that way.”

During a report on Oct. 22, the accreditation team outlined the district’s strengths and areas where it could improve.

“What we’re trying to do is provide some validation for the improvement efforts you have going on and build capacity so your school district can keep getting better and better,” Epperson told school leaders.

Areas of strength

Using the AdvancED rating system, the accreditation team identified 14 areas of strength or “powerful practices” in Powell.

“It’s not just something you do pretty good — it’s something you do really good,” Epperson said.

The team highlighted six powerful practices in Powell. The most they had previously identified in a school district was three, Mitchell said.

The district’s emphasis on putting students first is one of its strengths, Epperson said. All students have at least one adult in their school who advocates for the student’s needs, the report said.

Another strength is the district’s balanced, comprehensive assessment system, Epperson said.

“We don’t always see that,” he said. “You guys have the system in place and obviously use it.”

The accreditation team also praised Powell for its utilization of resources.

“Whether you believe it or not, you guys have resources like those of us from Ohio, Colorado, Illinois — we would love to have this,” he said.

The Powell district effectively uses resources while still saving money in reserves, Epperson said.

“We heard from a variety of sources that you do a great job with the resources you have,” he said.

The report also highlighted the Powell district’s quality school facilities.

“Your facilities are beautiful; there’s no question about that,” he said, but he noted the report didn’t mention aesthetics. “People really thought out how these buildings were put together; they were designed for kids, and that’s the way it should be.”

The report also highlighted the Park County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees’ leadership and adherence to governance policies.

“The board sets the goals and vision and all of that, and then hires people to implement that at the building levels — you do that really well,” Epperson said.

The team also praised the high quality staff, and noted employees and students are held to high standards.

The AdvancED team analyzed the learning environment in Powell classrooms, looking at seven different factors, such as support, expectations and management. In every category except digital learning, Powell scored above average.

“You should be very proud of those numbers, because they’re remarkably good numbers,” he said.

Areas for improvement

The AdvancED team encouraged Powell school leaders to develop a plan to increase students’ use of technology in the classroom.

“We’re just saying you could take it to another level,” Epperson said. “You’ve got the equipment, you’ve got the expertise, and we think you could utilize it better with your kids.”

Another area where the school district can improve is making sure all teachers are using data to inform their instruction.

“We know your administrators utilize data, instructional facilitators use data and some teachers do,” Epperson said. “We’d like to see … all teachers effectively using data to inform what they do.”

The accreditation team also said the school district should do more to engage and communicate with stakeholder groups.

Another area for improvement is using the Professional Learning Community (PLC) model in every school. In a PLC, educators work collaboratively, focus on learning and use data to drive instruction.

“We know there are places and pockets in your district where Professional Learning Communities are being used exceptionally well,” Epperson said. “It was a little bit uneven, in terms of use throughout the district. The research says pretty loud and clear that these things have an impact on student learning, so what we’re saying here is that you should take the steps necessary to get this implemented system-wide.”

Mitchell agreed that it’s important to have the PLC model used at every level, and he said the school district will continue to work toward that goal.

“All three elementary schools have the core pieces for a PLC, and they are working on them every day,” he said.

Mitchell said the middle school also has the structure in place, and the high school is getting started on the PLC model.

The report also said the school district needs to establish system-wide practices to monitor students’ progress.

Next steps

The AdvancED team will issue its final report in about a month. The school district will then have a few years to work on the improvement priorities identified in the report.

“I don’t think there was one thing they mentioned that the leadership team hasn’t talked about as something we need to work on in the future,” Mitchell said.

He said every school has a continuous improvement plan that is updated each year.

Mitchell said Powell leaders are proud of students and staff, and he’s pleased with all the good news in the accreditation report.

“It kind of affirms that we’re certainly headed in the right direction, and we’re doing pretty well at it,” he said.

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