By Olivia Roth, Director of School Evaluation & Development Services

 

 

It’s been a year of innovation here at CIS as we reviewed a fundamental part of our work: CIS International Accreditation.

We’ve taken a bold step, and we’re proud of the developmental, differentiated approach that schools will experience when they pursue our new accreditation framework and process.

It’s an exciting time as we receive early feedback in response to our announcement about the launch of our new framework and process. We are now heading into the implementation phase and preparing schools seeking our accreditation or reaccreditation in 2025.

With the celebration of milestones comes reflection, and I’d like to take a moment to share insights from our review process over the past year.

Here’s our story …

 

Listening & learning

We engaged in deep listening. Our members told us what they valued about CIS International Accreditation and how we could support them as they adapt and evolve.

Deep learning followed. We explored the research, engaged with futurists to explore education trends, and set about creating a new CIS International Accreditation Framework.

We held a few core questions at the heart of this process:

People: How do we ensure that the change management process has people at its heart? How do we consult and collaborate in a way that honours our community?

Relevance: As we shape the future of international education, how do we remain relevant to schools seeking CIS International Accreditation? In other words, how do our design principles, services, and products reflect the needs of the user?

Agility & credibility: How do we integrate principles of flexibility and agility alongside a robust and credible framework to guide schools’ learning and development?

Organizational learning: How can we help schools develop and evidence their organizational learning through the process of school improvement?

 

Embracing innovation & future-proofing education

Throughout CIS history, we’ve consistently worked to maintain our place at the forefront of international education development. Each iteration of our robust accreditation framework was designed to guide international schools through the ever-changing educational landscape.

 

'Merely expanding the current educational development model is not a viable route forward. Our difficulties are not only the result of limited resources and means. Our challenges also stem from how and why we educate and the ways we organize learning today. We need a new social contract for education […] We face an existential choice: continue on an unsustainable path, or radically change course.'
—Reimagining our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education, UNESCO (2021)

 

Choice is key. Choice is flexibility & differentiation.
 

Schools told us about the importance of choice, flexibility, and differentiation in the accreditation process.

In our conversations and work with our international school community, we know many seek information and support to help them evolve and adapt in sustainable ways so they can best prepare young people for the opportunities and challenges now and in the future.

So, we took action.

We set out purpose-driven, equity-focused principles to guide the design of a new framework:

 

 

These principles focused on providing schools with greater agency to embrace innovation in their educational practices and support them in upholding standards as they innovate, explore, and grow with confidence and success.

 

Building on a strong foundation

We leveraged our collective knowledge and expertise accumulated over the years and retained many valuable principles of the previous framework.

Knowing what to change is a humbling starting point in any review process! We knew that gathering extensive feedback (qualitative, quantitative, and anecdotal data) from our school members, our volunteer evaluators, and our wider community would form the basis for the evolution of our framework and process.

We learned that CIS member schools highly value our expertise and how we apply it to help them in areas such as safeguarding and global citizenship.

There's also a strong desire for our support to develop key aspects of socially responsible leadership: inclusion practices via diversity, equity, and anti-racism (I-DEA), as well as crisis and incident preparedness and management.

We also learned that while our accreditation process is designed to be a supportive, developmental process, not all schools see it in this way. We will help schools to fully realise this significant opportunity.

 

‘The CIS model of accreditation is a developmental approach that should be part of a continual improvement process as opposed to a one-off judgement on a school.’
—CIS Briefing: Scope of CIS International Accreditation (2023:4), available to our members via the CIS Community portal

 

We drew insights from academic research on ‘future-ready schools’, as well as research into attitudes, values, and workforce skills by global organizations like Brookings, the OECD, the World Economic Forum, and Global Risk Surveys. We considered the skills, competencies and dispositions prioritised by higher education institutions and employers. Our comprehensive approach helped us align our standards with future-facing educational practices.

A cherished aspect of previous frameworks is the "critical friend" approach to evaluation. This method is further enhanced in the new framework. Schools will have greater agency to choose areas for development and improvement in consultation with us, and with ongoing access to our expert knowledge, evaluative expertise, and comprehensive support.

The school’s self-study process is a fundamental aspect of our accreditation framework and instrumental in helping school communities identify their strengths and areas for growth. The new framework and process enhance this aspect, offering more choice and flexibility for schools to engage in critical reflection, setting ambitious goals and inspiring professional growth among teachers and staff.

 

'The value of the self-review process extends beyond the completion of the report. It has fostered a culture of continuous improvement within our school. By engaging in critical reflection and self-assessment, we have developed a greater awareness of our strengths and challenges. The self-review process has encouraged us to set ambitious goals and implement targeted action plans to address areas for improvement. It has also been a catalyst for professional growth, as teachers and staff have embraced opportunities for professional development based on identified needs.'
—Feedback from a CIS school going through the accreditation process in 2024

 

Future-proofing the framework

The concept of future-proofing is central to the new framework.

As education (and the world!) rapidly evolve, so too must we evolve our services. It is essential that our accreditation framework is both robust and agile to help our members respond to emerging themes and the complexities of the modern educational landscape.

 

'Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one [was] no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.'—Anuradha Roy, 2020

 

For example, addressing the rising importance of generative AI; while the framework may not explicitly mention "generative AI," the guidelines help schools focus on integrating such technologies thoughtfully and responsibly.

 

And so …

We’re proud of our new framework, one that delivers an innovative, developmental, and differentiated approach, aligning CIS International Accreditation with the strategic, evolving, and unique needs of each CIS-Internationally Accredited school.

It’s designed to empower schools to lead and tailor their improvement efforts to their unique context, fostering a greater sense of ownership and engagement in their development.

We are hearing much anticipation and excitement surrounding it from schools eager to explore the opportunities it presents and engage in meaningful community dialogue.

 

‘There have been some really thoughtful and innovative changes to the accreditation process in recent years; I really like the formal adoption of guided choice in particular. Nice work! Congratulations to you and broader team/network for walking the talk of continuous improvement.’
—James MacDonald, Director at International School of Brussels (via LinkedIn)

 

‘I truly value the adaptive approach you’re implementing, and I am eager to see how the new framework supports schools in their continuous journey toward improvement.
—Marwa Elgezery, Head of School, Sakura International School, Japan

 

‘Thrilled for this release! Looking forward to continuing to align the synergies between our developmental processes to benefit schools.’
—Angela Meikle, Head of IB World Schools, Singapore  (via LinkedIn)

 

Leading this initiative has been a personally and professionally rewarding experience, and, as anyone who has ever led change will know, it came with pain points too! We were cognitively (and sometimes emotionally) challenged by subject matter experts and by leaders in our community, our Board of Trustees, and beyond.

We stopped and started. We pivoted. We pushed ourselves. We leaned into confident discomfort. We stayed brave and we took risks.

Above all, I am immensely proud of the team of educators who contributed to this new approach. The review experience has deepened our professional relationships as colleagues, with school leaders, and with our volunteer evaluators.