The Thomas County School System was awarded SACS-CASI District Accreditation as a quality school system during a Thomas County Board of Education meeting on Wednesday. The standing-room-only crowd broke into a proud round of applause as the announcement was made.

The Thomas County School System, under the direction of Superintendent Dr. Jean Quigg, began an investigation of the SACS-CASI (Southern Association of Schools and Colleges and Council on Accreditation and School Improvement) accreditation process. Dr. Scott James, director of Accountability and Research for Thomas County Schools, explored the possibility and requirements. Jay Wansley, with the Georgia state office of SACS-CASI, conducted a readiness visit with the system administrators during the 2007-08 academic year. In August 2008, the Thomas County Board of Education voted unanimously to officially move forward with the SACS-CASI accreditation process. SACS-CASI is the world’s largest educational accrediting commission, representing more than 13,000 public and private schools and more than 15 million students.

Thomas County Central High and Bishop Hall Charter schools were already SACS accredited. Now, all schools in the system will be accredited following the rigorous review that was conducted Sunday through Wednesday.

Quigg said, “We know that our capacity to improve is directly related to our ability to recognize, acknowledge and act on our strengths and opportunities for improvement. The District SACS Accreditation process allows a group of external experienced professionals into our schools to assess the capacity of our system to meet the criteria for accreditation, commend admirable accomplishments and suggest strategies that hold the goal of systematic improvement. The SACS team saw what we do on a daily basis. Every school was visited and members of the team met with staff, parents, students and community members.”

James added, “The SACS team was here to evaluate the school improvement mechanisms of the Thomas County School System. Our superintendent, Dr. Quigg, was very clear that she wanted our schools and district offices to conduct business as usual so the team could provide us with an accurate report.”

James described the SACS Quality Review Team as a group with extensive education experience.

“They are all experienced educators and we welcomed having them visit in our district,” he said.

James also said it is a requirement that the committee chair come from outside Georgia. The team included Chairperson Gerald Cooper, retired educator from Versailles, Kentucky; Tonja Healey, School Improvement director for Brooks County Schools, Quitman; Dr. Laura Koskela, assistant superintendent of Laurens School District 56, Clinton, S.C.; Teresa McCuen, assistant principal for Baldwin High School in Milledgeville; and Dr. Marvin Thomas, principal of Bainbridge Middle School in Bainbridge.

Cooper reported the team looked at artifacts, held a total of 270 interviews, visited all Thomas County schools, deliberated their findings and constantly made observations of what they saw and heard.

Cooper said, “We were observing, formally and informally, from the moment we were picked up at the airport until the called meeting of the board of education to report our findings.”

School systems seeking accreditation must meet three major responsibilities. Cooper called them the “three pillars of education.”

First, the system and each school must meet all the Accreditation Standards for Quality Systems and Schools. Next, the district must have a vision and purpose, a profile of current conditions, a plan to reach goals, and documentation of results from improvement efforts. Finally, the review committee looks for quality assurance through institutional integrity, peer review and documentation of strengths and weaknesses.

The findings presented by the SACS-CASI review team included strengths, commendations, challenges, and recommendations. Cooper described the strengths as the effective practices of the system while commendations are those significant accomplishments “above and beyond” expectations. He said challenges are the limitations or barriers the system faces — often issues not controlled by the system — and recommendations are the actions to take in order to enhance effectiveness and improve student learning.

The strengths and commendations were many and included attributes such as a genuine pervasive caring for all students with a desire for all students to graduate from high school, quality faculty and staff, a visionary superintendent, and supportive community. Some of the challenges and recommendations included working under difficult budgetary constraints, recruiting a more diverse staff, improving communication with stakeholders, and improving strategies of transitioning students between schools.

Once accreditation is received, the district and schools are reassessed every five years. The SACS-CASI Quality Assurance Review Team may also make random visits to schools to ensure quality assurance. District accreditation is not a stand-alone process but is an umbrella or framework that supports continuous progress in student learning.