Self-Study Stage

Who are involved in the Self-study stage and what they need to do?

Self-study - Roles & responsibilities

Content

►Accreditation coordinator

The accreditation coordinator leads the steering committee and works with the head of school to manage the accreditation process. The person in this role will have to communicate across all school sectors (perhaps in more than one language) and should be at the school throughout the Self-study period and Team Evaluation (1-2 years). Someone at your school who has participated as an evaluator on a CIS team visit would be a good person for this role. This role requires significant commitment of time and effort. The accreditation coordinator will need to be available for consultation during visits. Flexibility in the person’s school role or release time possibilities should be considered.

The accreditation coordinator is responsible for:

• communicating with your school’s contacts at CIS to get the information and resources you need,

• leading the steering committee,

• ensuring the reporting is completed on time, and

• ensuring that the report is proofread and the responses from the various domains fit together coherently. (They do not have to do this alone, but should delegate as necessary and check the report for quality.)

►Steering committee

The head of school, with the help of the accreditation coordinator, will choose the members of the steering committee. The steering committee coordinates the work of the Self-study committees, ensuring they work together, that the evaluations are cross-referenced, and that the holistic overview is completed. Some members of the steering committee will be the chairs of Self-study committees.

Members of the steering committee should be effective communicators and motivators and work at the school (e.g. not parents, students, or board members) so they are able to come together quickly for meetings. If possible, school staff with previous experience of the CIS accreditation process are valuable to have on the steering committee.

The responsibilities of the steering committee include:

1. deciding who should be on the Self-study committees for each domain,

2. monitoring and guiding the work of those committees, with a clear delineation of which steering committee members will monitor each of the other committees,

3. serving on or leading some of the Self-study committees, and

4. establishing a timeline for the completion of the Self-study report.

*Internal Arrangement/Guidelines:

The following instructions are provided to be strictly followed in order that all needed information will be properly managed and cascaded. These guidelines were set out to ensure progress and prompt completion of the school’s report for CIS under:

• Part 1& Domain A report (to be submitted on 22 March 2021); and

• Part 2 Dom B to H (to be submitted on 22 August 2021),

1. Each Self-Study Committee shall inform by e-mail the school HOB / HOS / ASST to the HOB / PRINCIPALS / CIS COORDINATOR about any progress of their Part 1 and 2 narrative responses/ assignment.

2. Self-Study Committee to meet at least 5 times to discuss their narrative report and evidence. Minutes of meetings will be cascaded through an email: cc: HOS/HOB/Asst. to the HOB/ Principals /and CIS Coordinator.

3. There will be at least 2 members from the Steering Committee to join in the different Self-Study Committees (except for the Reflective Statements and Basic Information) to monitor or guide the team as needed.

Kindly note that Part 1 and Domain A will be resubmitted together with the rest of the domains in Part 2 and 3 considering updates based on CIS evaluation and recommendation.

►Self-study committees

The steering committee should choose a diverse team to participate on each of the Self-study committees to discuss and evaluate each domain. Each committee will be led by a chair who will manage meetings and report to the steering committee. Involve as many staff on these committees as possible. As appropriate, students, parents, and Board members may also serve as committee members.

Each Self-study committee needs a chair to lead committee meetings. Often, this is the representative from the steering committee. The designated chair is responsible for:

• becoming familiar with sections of the protocol relevant to the committee’s domain,

• becoming familiar with the Planning & Reporting Platform,

• reviewing the Preparatory report and identifying progress on recommendations,

• collecting the data and analysis from Part 1 and Domain A of the Self-study report,

• assigning responsibility for entering the response and uploading evidence, and

• assigning responsibility for reviewing the final draft for coherence and spelling/grammar.

The Committee members

The committee members are responsible for:

• discussing essential questions and guided development questions for their domain,

• evaluating their school’s alignments with the standards in their domain,

• gathering evidence to support their judgement,

• involving other members of the school community in collecting evidence, providing feedback, triangulating statements where necessary, and

• completing their domain’s section of the report.

Reference:

https://community.cois.org/schools/s/article/Self-study-roles-responsibilities

Forming Committees

Your goal is to form diverse, well-rounded committees from a range of stakeholders in the school community that will complete a reflective Self-study. For example, invite a support staff member from the campus maintenance team to the Domain E committee to give a different perspective from the academic staff. The table below provides ideas on who to include on each committee.

For productive meetings, we recommend appointing 6-8 members to the committee. If you would like to involve more staff and community members into the process, they can form smaller sub-groups that focus on a specific task, such as gathering evidence or reviewing the report.