The Academy of Tucson is accredited by Cognia Accreditation. Accreditation is a voluntary method of quality assurance developed more than 100 years ago by American universities and secondary schools and designed primarily to distinguish schools adhering to a set of educational standards.
To be accredited, a school must meet high standards, engage in continuous improvement, and demonstrate quality assurance through external review. Administrators and teachers serve on visiting teams of other Cognia schools, and the Academy has been called upon since 1990 to provide school leaders to assist in the ongoing improvement plans of many Arizona schools.
This professional experience provides us with great ideas and insight into best practices in achieving student academic success.
The 5 Standards:
- Standard 1: Purpose and Direction - The school maintains and communicates a purpose and direction that commit to high expectations for learning, as well as shared values and beliefs about teaching and learning.
- Standard 2: Governance and Leadership - The school operates under governance and leadership that promote and support student performance and school effectiveness.
- Standard 3: Teaching and Assessing for Learning - The school’s curriculum, instructional design, and assessment practices guide and ensure teacher effectiveness and student learning.
- Standard 4: Resources and Support Systems - The school has resources and provides services that support its purpose and direction to ensure success for all students.
- Standard 5: Using Results for Continuous Improvement - The school implements a comprehensive assessment system that generates a range of data about student learning and school effectiveness and uses the results to guide continuous improvement
Since 1991, The Academy of Tucson has been continuously accredited without deficiency.