The Cobb County school district has been recommended for re-accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
For the past three days, a group of about 20 SACS officials has evaluated the district, talking to school board members and hundreds of school principals, students and administrative officials to gauge how well the system is performing.
“Your schools are incredibly attractive… well-maintained,” said George Griffin, a lead evaluator with the SACS agency, in announcing the re-accreditation recommendation at a school board meeting Wednesday afternoon. “You’ve got incredible teachers. We saw some amazing things in the classroom.”
The SACS group, which visited some 270 classes in 25 schools in Cobb, plans to issue a more detailed report of its findings in the next month or so. Griffin gave a 30-minute presentation of the SACS group’s findings at the board meeting.
The agency’s opinions about accreditation influence a school district’s reputation and its graduates’ chances for college admissions and scholarships. That, in turn, can also affect the local economy since public education is a key factor businesses consider when choosing where to locate.
No other major school system in metro Atlanta is going through SACS re-accreditation this school year other than Cobb, the state’s second-largest district with close to 109,000 students. School systems typically go through the re-accreditation process every five years, though the agency also keeps tabs on how districts are performing between re-accreditation visits.
In determining accreditation, SACS looks at several factors, including student performance and achievement levels, district governance and financial stability.
DeKalb County’s school district has been at risk in recent years of losing its SACS accreditation, amid management and financial problems. In response, Gov. Nathan Deal replaced six elected school board members in 2013.
Since then DeKalb has made progress addressing the concerns of SACS, but the agency has not restored full accreditation to the district. SACS is next scheduled to review and evaluate DeKalb’s system in December.
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