When a learner achieves a goal, reaches a milestone or does well on a project, receiving positive feedback feels good – really good. For parents, educators, and SelfDesign® Learning Foundation contractors, sharing in this success is part of what makes our community strong.
Recently, the SelfDesign Learning Foundation reached its own important milestone. In the spring of 2018, SelfDesign Learning Community began the important process of renewing the accreditation with Cognia (formerly called AdvancEd), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that has been accrediting schools for over 100 years, with a commitment to ensure schools are ‘good enough’ and to help them improve.
In February 2019, SelfDesign Learning Community received a very positive performance accreditation from Cognia that confirmed the success of the SelfDesign Learning Community model and helped us see where we can grow and improve.
On the accreditation engagement review report, SelfDesign Learning Community exceeded expectations on the majority of the performance standards.
SelfDesign Learning Community Principal Nikki Kenyon believes this accreditation is incredibly valuable.
“We get audited and inspected very carefully by the B.C. Ministry of Education and many external stakeholders, but this accreditation is very different because it isn’t tied to someone who gives us funding,” she says. “Nor is it tied to any expectations of current government, curriculum or stakeholder contracts. It was incredible to share our model and processes with an organization who is not a stakeholder and that has a mission of continuously improving education. It was truly an objective look in from the outside. It validated that we are walking our walk and talking our talk. Now, we also have significant data we can use to bring changes forward and continue to improve.”
The accreditation process involved six months of preparing and submitting the required documentation (we compiled over 50 documents) for Cognia to examine the entire organization. Typically, Cognia’s engagement review team assesses a school in person, but because SelfDesign Learning Community is based online, Cognia piloted a new online review process to accredit the organization. The process also involved meetings with the SelfDesign Learning Community leadership team and interviews with parents, learners, educators, and contractors.
According to the review report, “The SelfDesign Learning Community has embraced and embedded the continuous improvement journey in everything they do and continuous improvement permeates the entire school and the community. Within all capacities: leadership, learning, and resources, SelfDesign Learning Community has deeply embedded a philosophy that ensures a truly student-centric approach toward learning. SelfDesign Learning Community parents, students, and the community within focus groups all share an enthusiasm for SelfDesign Learning Community and the vision and mission of creating a student-centric learning experience that is customized and personalized for every individual student.”
The review team also highlighted that the leadership team fully embraces the SelfDesign Learning Community culture and understands that, without that culture, growth cannot be sustained or replicated.
The team flagged a few areas for improvement, noting that SelfDesign Learning Community could:
- benefit from the formalizing of collection, analysis, and use of organizational data for the purpose of continuous improvement
- provide more programs and services for learners’ education future and career planning
- provide more face-to-face interactions for learners and families
Historically, SelfDesign Learning Community hasn’t collected data on graduates, post-graduates and the education model’s impacts. However, that is starting to change, with the SelfDesign Learning Foundation’s community report being a step in the right direction.
To help learners with career planning, SelfDesign Learning Community started a guidance office this year. Guidance counsellors help learners plan courses, gather info about scholarships, and identify their post-secondary interests and the courses they’ll need to attain their goals. This support will be continually developed going forward.
“We’re going to review each of these recommendations, unpack the reasons these areas showed up, and set goals to improve in those areas,” Nikki says. “Even though we have exceeded expectations in almost all areas and have effective practices, we want to continually review and improve those as well. Going through the review process, it was amazing to be in a room full of educators who really understand what we’re doing here.”
She adds, “It feels really good to see the hard work people have put in for so long be seen and celebrated.”
We would like to thank all of the contractors and families who provided valuable feedback that assisted in SelfDesign Learning Community being re-accredited. We’d also like to extend a very special thank you to Darrell Letourneau, SelfDesign educator and Subscriptions coordinator, who compiled and organized all of the required documents, made sure we met our deadlines, and led the overall re-accreditation process for the school.
