Accreditation
WBAIS, JAIS’s parent organization, has been accredited since the 1970’s, WBAIS and JAIS were evaluated and received re-accreditation last year. The current accreditation is valid until 2016. JAIS was visited by a Validation Team from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA), an American professional association that accredits colleges, universities, and schools in the United States and American Schools abroad as part of the accreditation process.
AFG
AFG is an accreditation process that uses strategic planning as a vehicle for growth and improvement in student performance and in the institution’s capacity to effect that growth. AIS will complete the MSA’s ACCREDITATION FOR GROWTH (AFG) protocol, which emphasizes SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT THROUGH IMPROVING STUDENT PERFORMANCE. A set of standards are provided by MSA to guide us through the accreditation process.
Standards
Rigorous standards of quality have been set by MSA to define acceptable operation and performance in educational institutions. To be reaccredited, AIS is required to demonstrate that they meet these 12 Standards for Accreditation. Each standard is amplified by a set of indicators that show possible evidence or ways that AIS can demonstrate it meets the Standard for Accreditation. The standards below are linked to survey results of the indicators:
Philosophy, Mission, Beliefs and/or Objective
Governance and Leadership
School Improvement and Planning
Finance
Facilities
School Climate and Organization
Health and Safety
Education Programs
Assessment and Evidence of Student Learning
Student Services
Student Life and Student Activities
Information Resources and Technology
Process
A Planning Team, consisting of staff, students and parents, has been created to steer the process. The Planning Team is composed of representatives of each of the institution‘s stakeholder groups (staff, students, and teachers.) The team works to help oversee development of the school‘s vision, beliefs, and profile of graduates, and to help monitor implementation of the action plans to achieve performance objectives.
Action Plan Teams have worked to “design” the actions AIS will take to achieve its mission and objectives. These actions are in the form of behavioral objectives, and collectively, make up the Strategic Plan.
Implementation Teams are working towards overseeing and monitoring the implementation of the Strategic Plan that has been approved. Implementation Teams, comprised of WBAIS faculty members and Administrators, are tasked with overseeing and monitoring the implementation of the steps of the Strategic Plan.
Since AFG requires that student performance objectives are measurable in the present and over the entire length of the plan for growth and improvement (7 years), baseline data have been collected to serve as a starting point. Members of the AIS community (staff, students and parents) participated in the AFG standards review process by completing a survey online. The survey results were analyzed, areas of significant strength and weakness were identified, and recommendations were generated. To see the survey data and results, click on one of the above standards. The required “Context of the Institution” and “Profile of a Graduate” have been written.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is the means by which an organization continually recreates itself for extraordinary purposes – in the case of WBAIS, our purpose is clearly defined in our Core Values and Mission Statement. Strategic planning assumes that WBAIS has the ability to create the future.