We are proud to announce that NIS met all the standards required to be fully accredited by AdvancED. The AdvancED standards framework provides eligible educational institutions a series of internationally recognised benchmarks to work towards. Schools are then judged against these standards, ultimately leading to officially documented areas of strength and prioritised areas for improvement. NIS is fully committed to the improvement process, through systematic, continuous self-review. Periodic reviews undertaken by AdvancED experts, will take place to check our commitment to the improvement process.
From February 12 – 19th, 2017, Nada International School (NIS) hosted an AdvancED External Review Team, consisting of five experienced international educators as part of our accreditation process. We had to navigate a demanding 'five – stage' process: -
- Stage 1 – Self Evaluation and School Improvement Plans
- Stage 2 – External Review, a one week onsite evaluation by an appointed AdvancED External Review team, comprised of five senior educational professionals from AdvancED
- Stage 3 – The External Review Teams' recommendation for accreditation
- Stage 4 – AdvancED Global Council Review
- Stage 5 – AdvancED Accreditation Ratification Committee
The above elements of the accreditation process include in-depth, comprehensive internal and external reviews.
During the external review visit, the External Review Team met with members of our Board of Trustees, heard and observed presentations by our leadership team, held consultative meetings with parents, observed the teaching in classrooms across all buildings and grade levels, spoke with students and staff, and met with leadership and school improvement teams. In addition to the school-based stakeholder discussions and the multiple observations of our daily practices, the External Review Team also worked outside school, each evening. These off-site meetings took place for four or five hours per night, to review our school self-assessments and to cross reference the content with the supporting evidence to affirm our positive practices and confirm our areas for improvement.
On Thursday 16th February 2017, the External Review Team met with the met with the NIS Leadership Team to share the results of the review. I am delighted to announce that the AdvancED External Review Team recommended that Nada International School should receive the AdvancED Accreditation for the full period of five years.
As our Accreditation was formally approved by The AdvancED Global Council and ratified by the AdvancED Commission in June 2017, NIS has now received a detailed report identifying :
- Powerful Practices {Areas of extremely high performance}
- Opportunities for Improvement {Areas that AdvancED recommends for improvement, where the educational institution has the right to decide the level of action taken}
- Improvement Priorities {Areas that AdvancED mandates schools to improve, within a particular time frame. Failure to adequately address these issues could result in loss of accreditation}
This is a pattern associated with a high-performing school. These areas, in tandem with a thorough review of the 'The Report' guide us in our continuous improvement process. The External Review Team complimented NIS on most aspects of our school's operation.
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank every member of the School Committees, along with all the other staff members and stakeholders who were part of this process.
The NIS Leadership Team will share future actions as we pursue future continuous improvement. Please feel free to contact my office with any questions about our process.
Tony Fynn
Executive Principal
18th August 2017
