Accreditation: Comprehensive, Collaborative, and Effective Professional Development

Accreditation provides a professional development experience that promotes both individual teacher/administrator growth and increases an organization’s capacity to promote collaboration, shared decision making, and systems thinking. As a profession, educators love their autonomy and independence and teachers become accustomed to conducting their work in solitude. Yet, we know that successful schools are those schools with positive professional relationships among and between the adults in the organization. Accomplishing that style of learning environment is often inhibited not only by a tendency toward teacher autonomy but also by traditional school bureaucracy. Professional development needs to address not only the improvement of student achievement but also the skills necessary (collaboration, shared decision making, and systems thinking) to build the staff’s ability to work together in a culture for continuous improvement. The power of professional development is not only in the efforts of individuals but in the collective passion and commitment to work as a school community to find out what is best for every student. This chapter details how the accreditation process promotes that level of professional engagement.