ACS WASC News

• New Office Hours: Starting Monday, January 13, 2020, ACS WASC office phone hours will be Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
• As of January 1, 2020, the Southern California office in San Diego has closed. Contact ACS WASC Southern California personnel directly (see Staff page) or contact the ACS WASC Burlingame office: 650 696-1060 or mail@acswasc.org with any questions or concerns.
• WASC Words Newsletter — Fall 2019 Edition: Click here to read the first digital publication of our annual newsletter to learn the latest news about the ACS WASC organization.
• ACS WASC 2020 Mileage Reimbursement Rate: The 2020 ACS WASC mileage reimbursement rate is set at 57.5 cents/mile. This is the Standard Mileage Rate set by the Federal Government for 2020; this amount is subject to change and the current amount can be found on the IRS website at www.irs.gov.
• Fall 2019 International Newsletter: Read our latest international newsletter, WASC Words International, Fall 2019.
• Spring 2019 International Newsletter: Read the first edition of our international newsletter, WASC Words International, Spring 2019.
• News from Guam:
  • iLearn Academy Charter School in Guam earns ACS WASC accreditation. Click here for more information.
  • WASC on island to review GDOE accreditation

• ACS WASC 2019 Mileage Reimbursement Rate: The 2019 ACS WASC mileage reimbursement rate is set at 58 cents/mile. This is the Standard Mileage Rate set by the Federal Government for 2019; this amount is subject to change and the current amount can be found on the IRS website at www.irs.gov.
• ACS WASC Executive Assistant: ACS WASC would like to announce the hiring of Executive Assistant to ACS WASC President Ms. Rosalina Abello. She is replacing the position that Ms. Judy Abbott has held for 30+ years. Ms. Abbott retired at the end of June. See the attached press release for additional information.

• ACS WASC Southern California Coordinators: ACS WASC would like to announce the hiring of two new coordinators in the ACS WASC Southern California office: Dr. Wendy Parcel and Dr. Susan Weinshanker. They will start on July 1. See the attached press release for additional information.

• ACS WASC Southern California Director: ACS WASC would like to announce the selection of Ms. Elizabeth Oberreiter as Director in the ACS WASC Southern California office. Ms. Oberreiter has served as an ACS WASC Southern California Coordinator for the past three years. She has over 30 years of experience in education. Click here to read the press release.

• Middle School Accreditation in the News: “SEL is an essential support to middle school WASC accreditation.” Co-written by Edward Colación, principal and Marina Hatfield, college and career readiness coach at Young Oak Kim Academy in Los Angeles USD, ACSA, March 19, 2018.

• LAUSD WASC Accredited Middle School Initiative: In fall 2016, the Los Angeles Unified School District initiated the WASC Accredited Middle School Initiative with the selection of six middle schools to go through the ACS WASC accreditation process. “5 District middle schools earn prestigious WASC accreditation.” LAUSD Office of Communications, April 28, 2017.

• ACS WASC would like to announce the retirement of Ginger Hovenic and Emily Barton from the ACS WASC San Diego office. We wish them the best.

• ACS WASC is pleased to announce its new President, Dr. Barry Groves. As of April 1, Dr. Groves will serve part time as President-Elect until he formally takes over for retiring President Dr. Fred Van Leuven on July 1, 2018. Dr. Groves was a successful Superintendent of Schools for 23 years. He holds Doctorate and Master’s degrees in Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University. He also earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Click here to read the press release.

• It is with the most sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Katherine Frazier, our friend and colleague from the ACS WASC San Diego office, following a prolonged illness. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family. Her obituary can be found here.

• ACSA/ACS WASC Webinar: Working toward Coherence: Aligning ACS WASC, SPSA, and LCAP: ACSA and ACS WASC cohosted a webinar on September 28, 2017. The webinar shared promising practices to increase understanding of how the ACS WASC accreditation process supports school and district alignment of the SPSA and LCAP plans and evaluation of implementation progress. The video is published and available at www.acsa.org/Advocacy/gr-webinars.

• 2017-18 ACS WASC Words Newsletter: Read our latest ACS WASC newsletter to learn the latest news about the ACS WASC organization.

• ACS WASC Director of International Accreditation Services: ACS WASC would like to welcome Dr. David Ottaviano as the director of International Accreditation Services. Dr. Ottaviano most recently served as the head of GEMS International School-Al Khail in Dubai. He has extensive experience in school administration and ACS WASC. His tenure as a school head includes ten years as a public school superintendent in New Jersey and 21 years as the head of private, international schools in Serbia, Italy, Japan, Romania, and the UAE. Click here to read the press release.

• ACS WASC Coordinator: ACS WASC would like to welcome Mr. Brian Jensen as a coordinator in the Southern California ACS WASC office. Click here to read the press release.

• Evaluation Study Final Report: During the 2015-16 school year, a study was conducted to gather information about the ACS WASC accreditation process through Desertfrost Consulting Group, Inc., a California assessment, research, and evaluation consultancy. The Final Report from this study is now available, click here to view the report.

• Antelope Valley School Districts Accreditation Alignment: The Antelope Valley Union High School District, Eastside Union School District, Palmdale School District, and Westside Union School District have agreed to align their ASC WASC accreditation processes to allow for more collaboration between elementary, middle, and high school education program. Click here to read the press release.

• ACS WASC would like to welcome new employee Mr. Luigi Zoni to the Reception Desk of the San Diego office.

• ACS WASC would like to welcome new employees Ms. Elaine Wong and Mr. Michael McCormick to the ACS WASC Business/Accounting Department.

• Evaluation Study Executive Summary: During the 2015-16 school year, the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC), conducted a study to gather information about the accreditation process through Desertfrost Consulting Group, Inc., a California assessment, research, and evaluation consultancy. The Executive Summary is provided here for your review.

• ACS WASC Director: ACS WASC would like to welcome Ms. Nancy S. Brownell as an ACS WASC director. Ms. Brownell has over 40 years of experience as a teacher, administrator, school board member, and educational leader. Click here to read the press release.

• ACS WASC Accreditation Process Evaluation Study: An independent study was recently conducted regarding the ACS WASC accreditation cycle of quality process. This study consisted of a survey of public high school principals in California and interviews of randomly selected public high school principals. Click here to see the press release for additional information.

• International Task Force on Child Protection: The Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC) made a formal commitment to adopt the recommended Expectations, produced by the International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP), at its Winter 2016 Commission meeting. The School Evaluation Committee of the ITFCP has created a set of Expectations: eighteen essential elements which school evaluation, accreditation, and inspection agencies are strongly encouraged to adopt as essential requirements within their evaluation programs.

• ACS WASC District-level Accreditation Awarded to Guam DOE: ACS WASC voted unanimously at its Winter 2016 meeting to approve district-level accreditation for the Guam Department of Education (GDOE). This is the first district-level accreditation approved by ACS WASC. Click here to read the press release.

• Updated Document Delivery Instructions: School reports and visiting committee materials should be uploaded to ACS WASC in a single pdf or Word document (reference and support materials not required) using the Document Upload link on the top navigation bar of the ACS WASC website: www.acswasc.org/document-upload/. School reports are due to both the visiting committee and ACS WASC no later than six weeks prior to the visit.

• Guam Piloting ACS WASC District Accreditation: Two recent articles about the ACS WASC pilot district accreditation of the Guam Department of Education: Guam DOE to pilot new form of accreditation and WASC begins assessment of Guam DOE.

• ACS WASC would like to welcome Ms. Elizabeth Oberreiter as the new ACS WASC Coordinator in the Southern California office. She comes to us with a myriad of administrative experiences in the online, blended learning, public, private, charter and SEP world. She has completed a variety of ACS WASC visits and enjoys the process on many levels.

• The International Baccalaureate (IB) and the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC) have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), that establishes a framework of cooperation between ACS WASC and the IB for synchronizing accreditation and evaluation visits. Click here for additional information.

• Updated ACS WASC Website: We have recently updated our website. We hope that you find it user friendly and easy to navigate. Some of the new features that have been added to the website are a new Document Upload link where you can easily upload all reports and documents directly to ACS WASC and a Calendar of Events where you can view all upcoming events. We hope that you find the streamlined site intuitive and easy to use.

• iNACOL Standards: ACS WASC has aligned with the iNACOL Standards that are also used by the University of California in the evaluation of online a-g courses. UC requires all online courses to be assessed against the iNACOL Standards for Quality Online Courses before the courses are submitted to UC for “a-g” review. ACS WASC is in the process of integrating the iNACOL standards with the ACS WASC criteria and indicators in all aspects of the accreditation process. Click here for additional information about the iNACOL standards.

• Cerro Villa becomes first ACS WASC accredited comprehensive public middle school in Orange County. Read more.