DeKalb County School District

Devise and implement a written, comprehensive plan for unifying the DeKalb County Board of Education so that the focus can become serving the needs of the children of the DeKalb County School District .

Ensure that all actions and decisions of the DeKalb County Board of Education are reflective of the collective Board and consistent with approved policies and procedures and all applicable laws, regulations and standards, rather than individual board members acting independently and undermining the authority of the Superintendent to lead and manage day-to-day operations.

Establish and implement policies and procedures that ensure segregation of duties of the governing board and that of the administration including the elimination of Board working committees which result in board members assuming administrative functions that should be the responsibility of appropriate staff.

Implement and adhere to fiscally responsible policies and practices that ensure the DeKalb County Board of Education will adopt and ensure proper implementation of budgets within the financial means of the school system and that support the delivery of an educational program that meets the needs of the students.

Establish and enforce a policy that board members honor the chain of command when communicating with stakeholders.

Ensure a robust district diagnostic assessment program (universal screener, progress monitoring probes, and benchmarks included) that is a systematic and a regular component of the district's comprehensive assessment system, includes a variety of formative assessment tasks and tools to monitor student progress, and provides school personnel access to the State Longitudinal Data System.

Establish a formal change management process for new system initiatives (vision, mission, strategic plan, curriculum, benchmark assessment, etc.) to address development, implementation, timeline, monitoring, communication and evaluation effectiveness. This process should be in accordance with state regulations and guidelines.

Conduct an internal audit on the available technology across all schools in order to identify areas of need with the intent to allocate appropriately throughout the district. Support this action by researching appropriate training for teachers and staff to ensure technology's effective use in daily instruction.

Communicate to stakeholders the differences between programs and financial resources available to schools.

Enroll all students (K-12) in Parent Portal and communicate with parents this action to work more closely with them. Establish policy for timely Parent Portal updates by teachers. Also provide students with tools to monitor their success.

Re-establish the district's strategic planning team for the purpose of effectively implementing the DeKalb County School District's Strategic Plan to guide the direction of the district.

A school or school system that shows little or no evidence of meeting two or more of the Standards or requirements of the accreditation process, and the resulting Required Actions are deemed to seriously detract from the school or system's educational program, limit the school or system's ability to fulfill its mission, and/or cause potential harm to students will be accredited on probation. In such cases SACS CASI will assist the school system to address the remaining work needed to improve operational efficiencies as well as insure that it authentically commits to a well-defined strategy of continuous school improvement. In such cases SACS CASI will assist the school system to address the remaining work needed to improve operational efficiencies as well as insure that it authentically commits to a well-defined strategy of continuous school improvement.

The DeKalb County School District is accountable for addressing the Required Actions in the December 2012 report (noted below), and must host a Monitoring Team in May 2013 and a second team in December.
In preparation for the Monitoring Reviews, the school system must submit an Institution Progress Report to AdvancED/SACS CASI no less than two weeks prior to the Monitoring Team Review. The Institutional Progress Report should contain evidence of all actions taken, including documentation of results, to address the Required Actions.

1. Devise and implement a written, comprehensive plan for unifying the DeKalb County Board of Education so that the focus can become serving the needs of the children of the DeKalb County School District .
2. Ensure that all actions and decisions of the DeKalb County Board of Education are reflective of the collective Board and consistent with approved policies and procedures and all applicable laws, regulations and standards, rather than individual board members acting independently and undermining the authority of the Superintendent to lead and manage day-to-day operations.
3. Establish and implement policies and procedures that ensure segregation of duties of the governing board and that of the administration including the elimination of Board working committees which result in board members assuming administrative functions that should be the responsibility of appropriate staff.
4. Implement and adhere to fiscally responsible policies and practices that ensure the DeKalb County Board of Education will adopt and ensure proper implementation of budgets within the financial means of the school system and that support the delivery of an educational program that meets the needs of the students.
5. Establish and enforce a policy that board members honor the chain of command when communicating with stakeholders.
6. Ensure a robust district diagnostic assessment program (universal screener, progress monitoring probes, and benchmarks included) that is a systematic and a regular component of the district's comprehensive assessment system, includes a variety of formative assessment tasks and tools to monitor student progress, and provides school personnel access to the State Longitudinal Data System.
7. Establish a formal change management process for new system initiatives (vision, mission, strategic plan, curriculum, benchmark assessment, etc.) to address development, implementation, timeline, monitoring, communication and evaluation effectiveness. This process should be in accordance with state regulations and guidelines.
8. Conduct an internal audit on the available technology across all schools in order to identify areas of need with the intent to allocate appropriately throughout the district. Support this action by researching appropriate training for teachers and staff to ensure technology's effective use in daily instruction.
9. Communicate to stakeholders the differences between programs and financial resources available to schools.
10. Enroll all students (K-12) in Parent Portal and communicate with parents this action to work more closely with them. Establish policy for timely Parent Portal updates by teachers. Also provide students with tools to monitor their success.
11. Re-establish the district's strategic planning team for the purpose of effectively implementing the DeKalb County School District's Strategic Plan to guide the direction of the district.

The educational program at DeKalb County School District has been affected by many challenges and issues that have occurred over the past decade. Unaddressed, some of these challenges could have significant impact on the education of students long-term.

In preparation for the review, the school system provided the Special Review Team with school board meeting agendas and minutes, school board meeting videos, board member e-mails and correspondence, school board policies, board committee information, contracts for legal services, legal fees, the forensic audit, financial audits and statements, the staff organizational chart and responsibilities, and hiring policies and procedures. The system, in cooperation with SACS, identified a list of key stakeholders to be interviewed during the Special Review. The DeKalb County School District established a schedule by which 52 individuals including all nine Board members, the superintendent, 35 staff at the central office and school level, and six community representatives including business/community leaders and parents were extensively interviewed.

The Special Review Team was comprised of diverse and highly skilled and experienced professional educators including former school superintendents trained to conduct reviews of this nature. Team members came from Georgia and other southeastern states. AdvancED review teams are selected with sensitivity to the population and demographics of the school system under review.

We will continue to work with the system in the accreditation and school improvement process. The AdvancED Georgia office will be available to assist with any of the Required Actions in preparation for the Monitoring Team Reviews in May and December.

The system and its schools are still accredited and therefore the status of Accredited Probation has no impact on seniors seeking college admissions and scholarships, such as HOPE.

In order to earn and/or maintain AdvancED/SACS CASI accreditation, a school or school system must: 1) meet the Accreditation Standards, policies and procedures of AdvancED; 2) demonstrate continuous improvement of student performance over time; and 3) seek and respond to stakeholder feedback on the quality and success of the school or school system. A more detailed description of all requirements can be found in our Accreditation Policies and Procedures at www.advanc-ed.org.

AdvancED operates three regional accrediting agencies, accrediting 32,000 institutions in 71 countries serving over 20 million students - the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI). SACS, founded in 1895, has been a leader in public education reform and improvement in areas as varied as desegregation, centralized testing and school board governance.

Accreditation is a process of helping institutions improve through a systematic program of evaluation, assuring that an institution not only meets quality standards, but also that it demonstrates a continuous commitment to providing quality education programs that are aimed at improving student performance.

For more information, please visit www.advanc-ed.org.