Accreditation plan gets the green light

Troy School District got the go-ahead on its plans to become regionally accredited.

Daniel Sybrant, the AdvancED Representative that has taken on Troy as one of the first school districts in the state that has begun the process for the new regional accreditation, has recommended and approved Troy Schools to go forward with the process.

This comes after an initial evaluation of Troy’s ability to get its schools to the proper standards.

The next step is to get approval from the school board and stakeholders to go forward with the process.

Accreditation is a process in which educational entities give quality assurance and an external body determines whether the school meets educational standards. All schools must be accredited by the state, or face state involvement and lack of funding.

Region accreditation is an optional and additional status that, in theory, would show the strengths of the Troy School District. 

AdvancED is a regional accreditation board that handles most western and southern states.

What Troy is trying to do is unprecedented in Montana, and would be a top-down accreditation. Basically, it would get both of Troy’s schools to work together more completely to make the transtition between grades more seamless and improve the learning process for youngsters.

“This is significant for Troy and the State of Montana,” Sybrant said. “This is going above and beyond what Troy is required to do for its students.”

Sybrant’s findings in the report he gave to Troy Superintendent Dan Wendt show that the school district has much work to do, but already had met standards in several categories. 

The scoring system has five standards with 35 sub-standards Troy must meet in two years time to secure the accreditation. 

Currently, they only meet 10, but with Wendt, Troy High School Principal Jacob Francom and W.F. Morrison Principal Kelly Moore working for the next several school years at the standards, the top-to-bottom accreditation is a realistic goal.

Further overall results show that Troy has been increasing or holding steady in terms of test scores for the past five years. 

Troy High School has a graduation rate of 83 percent, relatively high for a city of low socio-economic status like Troy. 

According to a 2010 survey, 75 percent of Troy students believe what they learn in school will benefit them in life. In the same survey, 87 percent said college was important.