Grand Valley Charter Schools Office receives formal accreditation from AdvancED

Grand Valley's Charter Schools Office has formally received accreditation from AdvancED, making the university the first charter school authorizer in the nation to achieve the national AdvancED accreditation classification.

The formal accreditation was awarded after a favorable recommendation was provided by the AdvancED review team earlier this year.

“The final approval of the accreditation of the Charter Schools Office marks a significant step toward increasing standards, transparency and accountability for charter school authorizers in our state,” said Tim Wood, special assistant to the president for charter schools at Grand Valley. “We're proud to be the first authorizer in the state and nation to be accredited by AdvancED.”

The accreditation assessment process included an intensive three-day review of the university's Charter Schools Office and portfolio of schools. The review consisted of evaluations of resource utilization, teaching and learning and leadership capacity. Other considerations included student performance, continuous improvement, strategic plans, an index of education quality and more.

A review team from AdvancED showed that GVSU's Charter Schools Office not only met but significantly surpassed average results for the rigorous evaluation process, which included an extensive document review and interviews with more than 120 stakeholders at Grand Valley and GVSU authorized schools.

"This review by AdvancEd is proof that we do what we say we're doing throughout our office on behalf of the schools that we authorize," Wood said. 

AdvancED is the largest accrediting body in the world, having accredited more than 32,000 schools serving more than 20 million students worldwide.