Wisconsin Religious and Independent

Schools Accreditation

VISITING TEAM MEMBERS

INFORMATION GUIDE

VISITING TEAM MEMBERS INFORMATION GUIDE

Revised 10/28/2016
 INTRODUCTION TO A TEAM VISIT

We, the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Religious and Independent

Schools Accreditation (WRISA), express our appreciation for your
willingness to serve as a member of the Visiting Team. You are not only
serving the school you are visiting, but also assisting in the continuous
quest for excellence for all religious and independent schools. The goal is
awesome, challenging and rewarding. Thank you!

During the Site Visit, the Team needs a global view of the school community while
reacting to the specific parts of the self-study report. Team members need to set aside
their own personal, educational philosophy and favorite instructional innovations.
They need to pay attention to what this school has as its foundational statements -
mission statement, philosophy and core values - and determine how closely the school
reflects these foundational statements and meets the needs of its students. Above all,
Team members need to be sensitive to every person within the school community, and
at the same time be aware of the purposes of the Accreditation process:

To recognize and affirm all the excellent programs and unique qualities of the
school.
To affirm the contributions of the teachers, staff, administration and the entire
school community in implementing the school's mission.
To proclaim to the parish and the broader community the quality faith-based (if
applicable) and academic education that is provided.
To give future direction to the educational program by providing a process to
develop long range educational and financial plans.
To provide accountability to the Bishop, the parish(es), clergy, (if applicable) parents,
and other stakeholders.
To identify opportunities for professional growth for the school community.
To gather information that can be used in creating a plan for improvement.
To complete the self-study component for accreditation.

* All activities and discussions of the Visiting Team are confidential and are to be kept
within the confines of the Teams Visit.

WHAT DOES A VISITING TEAM MEMBER DO?

The chairperson of the Visiting Team assigns a specific part of the self-study to each
Team member. This means that it is the individual Team member's primary
responsibility to investigate that area and write a report about it. It is also the task of
the Team member to help other members by sharing information that is uncovered

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about the topics for which others are responsible. Activities of the Team member fall
into three categories:

Pre-Visit
On-Site
Written Report

What Are the Pre-Visit Activities?

Each Team member is given a copy of this document as well as the school's Self-Study.
The purpose of providing these before the visit is so that the Team member can read
them carefully before going to the school. The time spent during the Site Visit is to make
sure that what he/she has read in the report is actually true to what is documented. A
suggested approach is:

Read the section on the Foundational Statements of the school. Make certain your
understanding of the schools Mission/Vision/Core Values is clear. The examination
of all areas of the school is based on the schools Foundational Statements.

Thoroughly read the entire Self Study. Pay particular attention to the Standards that
you have been assigned. The responses to the specific Quality Indicators are key to
the conclusions the school community has made as they list their strengths, areas of
growth and goals. You will be looking for firsthand evidence about those items. See
if there are any patterns in the Self Study. Sometimes a school can be too critical
about its performance. Other times they can ignore or be oblivious to weaknesses.
Be objective as you assess the schools success in meeting the WRISA Standards with
Quality Indicators and living out its own mission.

Complete the Standards Preference form and return it to your Team Chairperson.

What Are the On-Site Activities?

The magnitude of the Team member's task is experienced during the Team visit. Making
his/her time count is significant to the success of the visit.

A. Initial Meeting with School Staff

Visiting Team members may have met the principal and/or Steering Committee
Chairperson at an inservice for Visiting Teams. The first meeting with the entire staff
is critical. It helps put members of the school community at ease and helps them
view the site visitors as fellow educators there to help the school rather than
inspectors on an investigatory task force.

B. Orientation of the Visiting Team

The chairperson and Team members will work together to plan their agenda. It is

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 absolutely necessary that Team members clearly understand their tasks. Questions
should be asked during this meeting so that each Team member can confidently
begin validating the self-study report of the school.
If Team members are working as partners, it will be necessary for them to plan
together. For example, if they are doing the curriculum areas, they will need to
divide up the tasks. The Team members may wish to divide areas of the curriculum
according to interest and competence. What is important is that there is some
degree of planning so that an effective and efficient job is done.
A daily schedule should be developed during the Validation Team's first meeting.

C. Talking with Members of the School Community

Talking with teachers, students, administrators, parents, board members, and the
pastor/associate pastors is a major task of the Visiting Team. It is essential that there is
dialogue with those whose opinion and knowledge can shed light on the particular area
of the Self-Study being examined. Every teacher in the school should have an
opportunity to talk to a member of the validation Team.

What to Ask Teachers and Support Staff

The Self-Study questions should be answered in the report. If this has not been done
to the satisfaction of the Team member, then elicit responses from the teacher to
specific questions. Try to stay close to the Self-Study questions. Visiting classrooms
provides a flavor of what is going on. When Team members take notes, the faculty
should know that this would be done in order for the Team members to remember
specific points or strengths or those things needing change; this is never done to
supervise a teacher. Sample questions for individual teacher interviews:

1. What do you think are the school's greatest strengths?

2. Ask about your assigned parts of the self-study, e.g., if you are responsible for
the Religion section, ask the teacher to tell you about the school's religion
program.
3. How involved have you been in the self-study? Do you agree with what is stated
in it?
4. Is there anything that you think the Team should absolutely not miss seeing at
the school?
5. Is there anything you would want to change about the school?
6. Do you have any questions for the Team?

Talking with Other Team Members

Each member of the Validation Team has a significant contribution to make to the
final report. It is very important that members share pertinent information with one
another. The Team chairperson will arrange for opportunities to do this. Meeting
times will be set during the day when the Team members can informally exchange
information. If there is a potentially controversial issue, a Team member should ask
other Team members for observations/information. It is important that if there are

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 questions about the facts of an issue, these be pursued. This needs to be done
before any writing takes place.

Talking with Other Members of the School Community

The Team members assigned to the Leadership, Physical and Financial Resources
Standards and Quality Indicators will need to dialogue with the Pastor, the Education
Board/Committee, parent groups, and members of the community at large. Due
caution must be taken when extending the validation into the community that
nothing detrimental to the school is stated or implied by Team members. It is
recommended that all parents/guardians be called, however, depending on the size
of the school, and the number of site visitors this may not be possible. Parents
should have been notified by school leadership prior to the visit that the site visit is
taking place and parents may contact the visitors if they wish. Straightforward
questions about the school and its position in the community are to be asked.
Sample questions:

PARENT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Identify yourself: (IF CALLING, explain why you are calling and ask if they are
aware that the school has been doing a self-study.
2. How long have you had children in the school?
3. Can you tell me what you really like about the school?
4. Ask if they know anything about your specific areas of the self-study.
5. Is there anything you would like to see changed at the school?
6. Do you have any questions for the Team?

SCHOOL STAFF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. In your opinion, what are the outstanding features of this school?

2. What is a dream that you have for this school?
3. If there was one thing you could change about this school, what would that be?
4. How were you involved in the self-study process?
5. Why are you working at (name of school)? OR a question related to the
Standards you are researching.

STUDENT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What do you like best about this school?
2. If you had a magic wand, what would you change at your school?

PASTOR/BOARD CHAIR/MEMBERS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. How do you feel (or, what do you think) about the school?
2. What do you see as its strengths? Needs?
3. What do you see for the future of the school?
4. In addition, look over the Leadership Standard and see if there are areas that you
would like clarified.

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D. Considerations for an Oral Report Stating the Conclusions of the Visit

On the last day of the site visit, the Visiting Team chairperson meets with the school
principal and reviews all of the findings of the Visiting Team. Following this meeting, the
entire Visiting Team meets with the school staff to conclude the visit. In some cases,
parents and Board/Committee members may be invited if appropriate.

It is most helpful if the Team spends some time during the afternoon of the last day
preparing the oral report and sharing observations.

This oral report serves primarily as a means of concluding the visit to the school. It is not
necessary to state all of the commendations and recommendations, although some
Teams do choose to do so. Other Teams make a few broad commendation and
recommendation statements. Most Teams tell the recommendation for accreditation
that they will make to the WRISA Board of Directors, but it is not necessary to do so
since some individuals interpret this recommendation to mean that they will be fully
accredited. However, the WRISA Board of Directors is the sole authority in
determining accreditation status, and the Boards final decision may be different from
the Visiting Teams recommendation. It is not necessary to ask for questions from the
group that is assembled

What Considerations Must Be Given to the Written Reports?

Preliminary reports are written by the Team members assigned to specific Standards.
After each Standard has been discussed by the entire Team, and the commendations
and recommendations have been developed collaboratively, the Team members give
their final reports to the chairperson. Responses (commendations first, then
recommendations) may be written for each Standard in the self-study. If a school fully
meets each Quality Indicator in a Standard, it is possible that this Standard would not
have any recommendations. Thus there may be some Standards that have NO
recommendations.

Make sure to write a comment for every Meets with Recommendation or Does not
Meet AND include a recommendation in the Summary section at the end of the
Standard.

The chairperson is responsible for compiling and collating the full report. Sufficient time
for discussion and consensus must be allowed, as the official report is prepared under
the name of the full Visiting Team.

Here are two examples of commendations and a recommendation for Quality

Indicators.

Sample 1:

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Standard 7:
SUMMARY:

COMMENDATIONS:
1. 7.01 The principal has developed a process that provides for adequate materials
and resources that support every area of the curriculum and assessment program. The
school has an inventory of all instructional materials, equipment, and furniture that is
updated annually. When revising curriculum, current and new instructional materials are
evaluated in terms of their effectiveness in improving student learning.

Sample 2:

Standard 9:
SUMMARY:

COMMENDATIONS:

1. 9.01 Communication of Plan: The administrator, in conjunction with the

education committee, has established a formal process for communicating the school
improvement plan to the school community through its quarterly newsletters,
parent/teacher meetings, and parish council meetings.

RECOMMENDATIONS (Please cite Quality Indicator number first):

1. 9.04 Because the administrator does not have an established process for
regularly evaluating the effectiveness of the school improvement plan that includes
input from the staff and the education committee, the administrator should develop
a formal process for evaluating the effectiveness of the school improvement plan
that includes input from both staff and the education committee. This process
should include opportunities for adding to the plan based on recommendations from
these groups.

Summary of On-Site Activities

In summary, the purposes of the validation Team's on-site visit are to: 1. examine, verify
and challenge objectively the findings in the self-study; 2. validate compliance with the
WRISA Standards and Quality Indicators in light of the foundational statements of the
school rather than from the visitors' own personal philosophy; 3. present a closing oral
report that will be followed by a comprehensive written report.