Suggested Directions for Steering Committee Chairs

Suggested Directions for Accreditation Standards Committee Chairs

1.  Make sure everyone knows each other on the committee. 

2. Explain the expectations given to the chair by the steering committee or the liaison from the steering committee.  

3. Read the standards and questions (aloud is good) for this particular area and discuss their meaning. It is important that everyone be on the same page when it comes to interpretation. If in doubt, set it aside and check on its meaning with the steering committee. The general rule is that what it means to you is what it means. 

4. Discuss how the standards area sub-committee might go about researching and finding the information required of each question. Develop a list of resources necessary to access (school profile, materials list, central office personnel, grade level meetings, faculty meetings, parents, principal, department head or coordinator, etc.) for each question. Take time to do this well. 

5. Divide the questions up within the group, and tell them that they have the responsibility to begin to gather information and develop responses to their questions. Ultimately, each of the questions and prompts should be answered in a comprehensive narrative format, which presents the current status of the school in relation to the standard. As appropriate, strengths and concerns and/or gaps should be included in the narrative. It seems to work well if you create mini-teams (two) to work together on their questions. However, if someone wants to work alone, that’s okay. 

6. If possible, give each person a floppy disc with the questions on it, so that they can work on it most easily and so that you can cut and paste it into a full report when the time comes. 

7. Set a deadline for them to come back to the group with their work. Explain that his or her work will be reviewed by the whole sub-committee, and everyone will help to complete the work. Their job is to get as much info as possible so that the group can look at it and decide how it wants to expand on the information. 

8. At your next meeting, begin by asking your committee members if they had difficulty with any of the questions. Discuss the difficulty (it may be that they don’t know what the question means, or they have no idea how to access the information, or they are trying too hard or they are just stuck), assist them in finding how to resolve the problem and give them more direction and support. 

9. If there are no major difficulties or problems, begin to look, as a group, at the responses to the questions. Question them! Critique them! Require proof and/or validation. The responses should be clear, detailed, accurate and complete. 

10. The responses should also identify needs. One way to go about it is to insert the word, “However,” after you have completed the answer. That enables your committee to stop and think about what is missing, what might be needed to make that particular learning area better. For example, after you have listed the resources used in that particular learning area, by adding the word “however”, the committee can identify those resources that are missing or needed.  A second example is one in which you are describing how the school library, media services and technology is integrated into instructional strategies. After the committee describes how this happens in your school, insert the word, “however”, and then go on to tell how it could be done better. 

11. Once your answers are complete, it is time to complete the appraisal sections of the standard area report. Both strengths and needs should be found in the answers to the questions. Do NOT list strengths or needs unless they have some reference in the answers to the previously completed questions. If you discover strengths or needs that are not included in the answers to the questions, then go back and rewrite the answers to include the strengths and needs. 

12. Finally, when your report is completed and the appraisal sections have identified the standard area’s strengths and needs, and you have rated the school, you have one last task – the narrative. Directions for the narrative are found in the self-study. Remember – the visiting committee will use the narrative in its final report, so check out the directions carefully.