District/System Reaccreditation Achieved from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
As Eckerd leadership gathered in the Eckerd board room recently to hear the initial findings from an intensive AdvancED reaccreditation review, the beaming faces of the five-member AdvancED quality assurance review team confirmed what they already knew – Eckerd’s educational quality is exceptional. However, Eckerd leadership was pleasantly surprised by the intensity of glowing remarks from the review team.
For the past several months, Eckerd’s Education Department has led a cross-functional team of more than a dozen staff members through AdvancED’s rigorous reaccreditation process involving internal and external reviews with 81 stakeholders to ensure Eckerd meets all 7 overarching worldwide standards for educational excellence. The accreditation process evaluates educational institutions’ vision, strategies, priorities, leadership, and programs and resources. Retaining SACS accreditation is important to Eckerd students as it enables educational credits earned in Eckerd programming to be transferrable to any educational institution worldwide.
According to AdvancED, Eckerd excels “above other educational systems” in four main areas:
- Vision – having a vision statement that is truly embraced by all stakeholders
- Marketing/Branding – utilizing marketing and branding strategies and tools to earn and continuously maintain a reputation of excellence in alternative education
- Strategic Plan – developing and implementing a system-wide strategic plan aligned with mission, vision and core values
- Staff Retention – hiring and retaining staff and administration who have a deep commitment and passion for the mission, vision and values
AdvancED is a global leader in advancing excellence in education worldwide. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) is an accreditation division of AdvancED.
