ORANGE BEACH — In less than two years, Orange Beach City Schools has earned Cognia (formerly known as AdvancED) accreditation.

Cognia, a nonprofit designed to offer quality assurance for school districts and education service providers, recognizes districts that meet national standards focused on productive learning environments, equitable resource allocation and effective leadership. OBCS recently participated in a self-assessment process and was comprehensively evaluated by Cognia experts, comparing current practices to research-based standards and gauging the commitment to continued improvement.

"Cognia Accreditation is a rigorous process that focuses the entire school and its community on the primary goal of preparing lifelong learners in engaging environments where all students can flourish," said Mark A. Elgart, president and CEO of Cognia. "Orange Beach City Schools is to be commended for demonstrating that it has met high standards and is progressing on key indicators that impact student learning."

OBCS was given an Index of Education Quality score of 329, far exceeding the average Cognia score (253), while also being labeled "perfect" in stakeholder feedback, student performance, culture of learning, leadership of learning, growth in learning and learning engagement. Orange Beach earned ratings of either level three (satisfactory or established practices) or level four (exemplary or best practices) among all 30 of Cognia's quality indicators.

"Receiving accreditation from the Cognia Global Accreditation Commission signifies a nationally recognized mark of quality for Orange Beach City Schools," Superintendent Randy Wilkes stated. "This achievement reflects our commitment to excellence, our willingness to undergo external review and feedback and our dedication to providing the best education for our students."

To achieve accreditation status, OBCS was also required to implement and submit a continuous improvement process for internal and external evaluation. Certification can be maintained on a six-year term for schools in good standing.