Understanding Accreditation & Cognia
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Accreditation

Team Success is proud to announce that we are an accredited school through COGNIA as of June 2022 which is a huge accomplishment.

What is an Accreditation?

Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body against recognized standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks. The assessment body for our school is COGNIA.
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What is COGNIA?

COGNIA is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that accredits primary and secondary schools throughout the United States and internationally.
Accreditation is pivotal in leveraging education quality and continuous improvement. Using a set of rigorous research-based standards, the COGNIA Accreditation Process examines the whole institution—the program, the cultural context, and the community of stakeholders—to determine how well the parts work together to meet the needs of learners. Through the accreditation process, highly skilled and trained Engagement Review Teams gather first-hand evidence and information pertinent to evaluating an institution’s performance against the research-based COGNIA Performance Standards. Review teams use these Standards to assess the quality of learning environments to gain valuable insights and target improvements in teaching and learning. COGNIA provides Standards that are tailored for all education providers so that the benefits of accreditation are universal across the education community.

Why is Accreditation important?

Accreditation indicates to parents that Team Success has met the high standards and made a commitment to implement a continuous process of school improvement focused on increasing student performance. It reflects that teaching the Team Success Way provides children with the ultimate quality education. Team Success scored a 350.50 out of 400 points which is quite the accomplishment. Please read the Engagement Review report below for the detailed evaluation report.
Cognia’s Continuous Improvement System (CIS) supports schools in creating a culture of ongoing improvement in teaching and learning. It encourages institutions to tailor their improvement journey based on their unique needs and contexts. Data analysis and evidence-based actions are central to achieving better educational outcomes. The improvement process is evaluated using Cognia’s Performance Standards and the i3 Rubric: Initiate, Improve, and Impact.

The Initiate phase focuses on stakeholder engagement and the quality of implementation of key practices.
Institutions in this phase begin collecting and analyzing data to drive improvements.
The Improve phase emphasizes evaluating outcomes and ensuring sustainability of results over time.
This phase requires consistent use of data to refine strategies and demonstrate long-term success.
The Impact phase reflects embedded practices that are part of the institution’s culture and operations.
Institutions in this phase show sustained growth in student achievement and organizational performance.

Accreditation is pivotal in leveraging education quality and continuous improvement. Using a set of rigorous research-based standards, the Cognia Accreditation Process examines the whole institution— the program, the cultural context, and the community of stakeholders—to determine how well the parts work together to meet the needs of learners. Through the accreditation process, highly skilled and trained Engagement Review Teams gather first-hand evidence and information pertinent to evaluating an institution’s performance against the research-based Cognia Performance Standards. Review teams use these Standards to assess the quality of learning environments to gain valuable insights and target improvements in teaching and learning. Cognia provides Standards that are tailored for all education providers so that the benefits of accreditation are universal across the education community.
Through a comprehensive review of evidence and information, our experts gain a broad understanding of institution quality. Using the Standards, the review team provides valuable feedback to institutions, which helps to focus and guide each institution’s improvement journey. Valuable evidence and information from other stakeholders, including students, also are obtained through interviews, surveys, and additional activities.
The Cognia Performance Standards Diagnostic is used by the Engagement Review Team to evaluate the institution’s effectiveness based on the Cognia Performance Standards. The diagnostic consists of three components built around each of three Domains: Leadership Capacity, Learning Capacity, and Resource Capacity.
The capacity of leadership to ensure an institution’s progress toward its stated objectives is an essential element of organizational effectiveness. An institution’s leadership capacity includes the fidelity and commitment to its purpose and direction, the effectiveness of governance and leadership to enable the institution to realize its stated objectives, the ability to engage and involve stakeholders in meaningful and productive ways, and the capacity to implement strategies that improve learner and educator performance.
The impact of teaching and learning on student achievement and success is the primary expectation of every institution. An effective learning culture is characterized by positive and productive teacher/learner relationships, high expectations and standards, a challenging and engaging curriculum, quality instruction and comprehensive support that enable all learners to be successful, and assessment practices (formative and summative) that monitor and measure learner progress and achievement. Moreover, a quality institution evaluates the impact of its learning culture, including all programs and support services, and adjusts accordingly.
The use and distribution of resources support the stated mission of the institution. Institutions ensure that resources are distributed and utilized equitably, so the needs of all learners are adequately and effectively addressed. The utilization of resources includes support for professional learning for all staff. The institution examines the allocation and use of resources to ensure appropriate levels of funding, sustainability, organizational effectiveness, and increased student learning.

Assurances are statements that accredited institutions must confirm they are meeting. The Assurance statements are based on the type of institution, and the responses are confirmed by the Accreditation Engagement Review Team. Institutions are expected to meet all Assurances and are expected to correct any deficiencies in unmet Assurances.

Cognia will review the results of the Accreditation Engagement Review to make a final determination concerning accreditation status, including the appropriate next steps for your institution in response to these findings. Cognia provides the Index of Education Quality (IEQ) as a holistic measure of overall performance based on a comprehensive set of standards and review criteria. This formative tool for improvement identifies areas of success and areas in need of focus. The IEQ comprises the Standards Diagnostic ratings from the three Domains: Leadership Capacity, Learning Capacity, and Resource Capacity. 

The Engagement Review Team engaged in professional discussions and deliberations about the processes, programs, and practices within the institution to arrive at the findings of the team. These findings are organized around themes guided by the evidence, with examples of programs and practices, and suggestions for the institution’s continuous improvement efforts. The Insights from the Review narrative should provide contextualized information from the team’s deliberations and analysis of the practices, processes, and programs of the institution organized by the levels of Initiate, Improve, and Impact.

The Engagement Review Team (team) identified several themes through the analysis of artifacts and extensive stakeholder interviews. The themes present strengths and opportunities to support the continuous improvement journey for Team Success, A School of Excellence.

Team Success, A School of Excellence, lacks opportunities for students to use critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving skills. The school is commended for its data-driven focus and student achievement; however, more opportunities for creativity, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving will support continued student growth and achievement. Through stakeholder interviews and a review of the evidence, the team found limited student participation in projects and collaborative problem-solving activities. Teachers shared, “next year, we will have dual-enrollment, honors, and technical classes for our students. This will provide more hands-on learning for our students.” Teachers would benefit from professional development focused on instructional opportunities that will consistently integrate critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving into daily instruction. The school’s self-rating and leadership interviews indicate “inquiry and project-based learning activities” as an “area of growth.”

While student achievement scores indicate growth and high student achievement, little evidence supports students are presented with lessons to develop creativity, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving skills. The implementation of curricula structures to engage students in critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving skills with a consistent evaluation of implementation will continue to progress Team Success, A School of Excellence, toward continuous improvement.

The school fosters a collaborative and supportive culture with a commitment to high expectations. During stakeholder interviews and the review of evidence, it is evident that all stakeholders are data-focused and use data to monitor student progress and learning. The use of formative and summative data is deeply ingrained in the school’s process, “we have data chats, we review lesson plans and provide feedback, and we make sure our students are aware of their progress.” The school meets with internal and external stakeholders to discuss data during data chats and parent-teacher and student-teacher conferences. A student shared, “Every week we take a test, they look at our progress, and then we go over our progress every other week. We can do this one- on-one, or we can do it in group.” Teachers shared, “We constantly review data and make instructional decisions for academic groupings and the reteaching of standards,” which is one example of how data are used to impact instruction.
Upon receiving the Accreditation Engagement Review Report, the institution is encouraged to implement the following steps:
  • Review and share the findings with
  • Develop plans to address the areas for improvement identified by the Engagement Review
  • Use the findings and data from the report to guide and strengthen the institution's continuous improvement
  • Celebrate the successes noted in the
  • Continue the improvement