JULY 2, 2024 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kevin Christian, APR, CPRC, Director of Public Relations

352.671.7734 w ◊ 352.840.3265 [email protected]

MARION COUNTY – Marion County Public Schools (MCPS) has earned the highly-regarded “accredited” status by the Cognia Global Commission, the governing structure representing the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement,  the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, and the Northwest Accreditation Commission.

This national accreditation extends beyond the district itself and includes all 50 public schools within MCPS. It also provides Marion County Public Schools a nationally recognized mark of quality for its schools and demonstrates to the community the MCPS commitment to excellence, openness to external review and feedback, and desire to be the best for all students served.

The accreditation was granted by Cognia, a nonprofit improvement organization dedicated to helping educational institutions and other providers grow learners, teachers, and leaders in 24,000 public and private institutions in the United States. Worldwide, Cognia serves more than 40,000 public and private institutions in 90 countries educating 17 million students.

MCPS started its accreditation process in early 2022 to meet students’ needs, increase transparency and buy-in of processes and policies, enhance communication and collaboration across teams, improve equitable management of human and fiscal resources, engage teams in targeted training and professional development, and set strategic direction based on system-wide data.

The accreditation process involved countless hours of sharing data, communicating with team members, collaborating with Cognia representatives, conducting site visits, and submitting feedback from multiple sources including public surveys.

            National accreditation confirms and demonstrates the commitment MCPS made to continuously improve based on rigorous research-based standards and evidence-based criteria.

Cognia’s official certificate and letter of accreditation is expected within 4-6 weeks. MCPS must submit materials every six years to maintain its accredited status.

For more information, visit www.cognia.org.