Novi Schools Receives Recommendation for Accreditation

—Submitted by Novi Community Schools

On Dec. 12 the AdvancED External Review team presented the findings of its review of the Novi Community School District to the Board of Education. Lynn Simmers, chair of the External Review team, informed the Board of Education that the Novi Community School District would be recommended for accreditation when the Advanced ED board meets in January.

Advanced ED works with over 30,000 schools throughout the world on continuous improvement, organizational effectiveness, and accreditation. Schools that work with AdvancED use a rigorous protocol that focuses on systemic, systematic, and sustainable change and improvement.

The External Review process took place over three days and involved 294 school district stakeholders. The school district engaged in an exhaustive internal review preparing for this visit. The External Review team met with administrators, teachers, support staff, parents, community members, and city of Novi employees gathering information about the district.

In her comments to the Board of Education, Simmers said that “pride suffuses and energizes every comment and perception about the school district from stakeholders.” The district was clearly seen by its stakeholders as a positive and powerful place to learn.

Other highlights by Simmers included the recognition that the Novi community and schools embrace, value, and celebrate diversity. The community's differences were seen as a positive part of the district that helped to create an environment that prepared students for life.

The review also noted other positive aspects of the district:

• Progressive administrative and teacher leadership teams
• Strong community and business partnerships.
• Abundant curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities for all students.
• Parental involvement that enhances school effectiveness at all levels.

The review team noted one action step that needed to be taken by the district. In order to ensure clarity and understanding of the district goals, a district-wide dashboard of system and school metrics needed to be developed. This would help the district measure progress as well as drive improvement initiatives.

Dr. Steve Matthews, Superintendent of the Novi Community School District, said, “This review process was undertaken so that we could identify both our strengths and those areas where we could improve. We were pleased that the External Review team noticed the many positive elements of our district. With so many stakeholders taking part in the review, we believe that the External Review team was able to get a good sense of whom and what we are.”

Assistant Superintendent for Academics RJ Webber said, “This process clearly identified for us what our next step needs to be. We have articulated clearly where we want to go. Now we need to measure our progress, keep our stakeholders informed, and continue to move forward.”

Within 30 days the school district will receive a final report. After that the AdvancED Accreditation Commission will meet to review the report and confirm accreditation.