Maplesville High School recently went through a comprehensive review through the AdvancEd Accreditation System (formerly SACS).

AdvancED is the largest community of education professionals in the world. It is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that conducts rigorous, on-site external reviews of PreK-12 schools and school systems to ensure that all learners realize their full potential. While its expertise is grounded in more than a hundred years of work in school accreditation, AdvancED is far from a typical accrediting agency.

Combining the knowledge and expertise of a research institute, the skills of a management consulting firm and the passion of a grassroots movement for educational change, it serves as a trusted partner to 32,000 schools and school systems, employing more than 4 million educators and enrolling more than 20 million students across the United States and 70 other nations. AdvancED was created through a 2006 merger of the PreK-12 divisions of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) and expanded through the addition of the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) in 2011.

AdvancED Standards for Quality require each school to be reviewed in a way that is appropriate to its mission and purpose. These Standards are research-based, comprehensive quality statements that describe conditions and factors that contribute to a quality educational experience and operational effectiveness. AdvancEd believes that every school requires:

•Stable governance, management and leadership;

•A coherent course of study;

•A reliable system by which to assess students’ progress;

•Instructors who have a clear understanding of what they aim to teach, how, and why; and

•Access to the resources they need.

They recognize that these basic criteria can be met in any number of ways and that effective instruction looks very different school to school. No matter your method, style or philosophy, the AdvancED Standards for Quality provide direction for every institution.

After the review team visited Maplesville High School for two days in March, they determined that the school was doing an excellent job meeting and exceeding the standards for AdvancEd Accreditation. They will be granted Accreditation through the year 2020.