Volusia County Schools earns prestigious Cognia accreditation.

Written by Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News 

Volusia County Schools is proud to announce that the entire school district has earned system accreditation by Cognia, a nonprofit organization providing quality assurance for schools, school districts, and education service providers. With this prestigious accreditation, Volusia County Schools is now recognized nationally as a school system that meets Cognia Standards of Quality and maintains a commitment to continuous improvement.

According to a release, Volusia County Schools received an “Index of Education Quality” score of 385.48 out of a possible 400, which well exceeds Cognia’s average score of 278-283 awarded to school systems in recent years. The score of 385 is a 117-point increase from the district’s 2015 accreditation score of 268. Cognia, formerly known as AdvancED, conducted the accreditation review from March 7-10, 2022. The accreditation review, completed every five years by the school system, consists of a highly detailed, data-driven, all-encompassing review of the district and school practices.

The review team looked thoroughly into the school system's leadership capacity, teaching, learning impact, and resource management. Each of the 31 standards used to evaluate the three Domains: Leadership Capacity, Learning Capacity, and Resource Capacity, are graded within four ranges: insufficient, initiating, improving, and impacting. 

Volusia County Schools received the highest rating, "impacting," in 29 of the 31 Cognia standards, with the remaining two falling in the “improving” rating.

The Cognia Review Team feedback included: 

• “Everything relates to the strategic plan.” 
• Stakeholders gave positive and supportive comments regarding the district, including “family, collaborative, community, proud, forward-thinking, resourceful, supportive, resilient, and dedicated.” 
• “A strong sense of family, despite the large size and geographical areas.” 
• “A large district structure that was very organized, well-focused, strategic, all headed in the same direction and unified.” 
• “The implementation of sustainable systems and structures will lead the district to continued success. Success is already evident and will continue to increase.” 
• “The district places a strong emphasis on data to inform and make intentional academic decisions to better the system.”
• “The district continues to adhere to a strong commitment of purpose, vision, and mission, designed to support learner engagement and academic and career attainment.”