Beaufort County Schools received a thumbs-up on accreditation for another five years.

Independent group AdvancEd announced its external review findings last week to the Beaufort County Board of Education. Accreditation refers to a protocol that analyzes improvement, efficiency and effectiveness in a school system. Schools undergo a review every five years.

“We’re thrilled by that. It truly is a validation of, I think, the academic integrity,” said Dr. Don Phipps, superintendent of Beaufort County Schools. “Parents can know that the schools meet standards.”

As part of the accreditation process, a group of six people from three states visited Beaufort County and some of the district’s schools. The group met with a variety of stakeholders, including Board of Education members, teachers, students and administrators, for feedback, according to Phipps.

AdvancEd assessed the following three categories:

• Teaching and learning impact — student performance, instructional quality, family engagement, support services for students, quality of curriculum and college and career readiness
• Leadership capacity — institutional purpose, leadership effectiveness, stakeholder engagement and capacity for improvement
• Resource utilization — allocation of resources, resource distribution, sustainability of resources and long-range planning effectiveness.

Phipps said, as to be expected, one area of concern was resource availability, especially with regard to college and career readiness, along with application of assessment data.

He said resource availability issues are not unusual in Tier 1 counties, where the ongoing trend is doing more with fewer funds. Although Beaufort County Schools doesn’t have the ability to place tablets or computers in the hands of all students, as larger districts may, Phipps said he thinks the district is doing well with providing needed technology where it counts. Use of technology often ties into and promotes college and career preparation.

“It’s a great deal of work,” Phipps said of accreditation. “It’s also a process of continuous improvement. … It helps shine light on areas we need to work on.”

In its report, AdvancEd praised the district for strengthening its relationships with external stakeholders in the community.

Phipps said the school district has also “moved the needle” on relationships with external funding sources, such as the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.

He said there are areas in need of improvement, which the accreditation process helps to highlight, but he is proud of the educators’ continued hard work.

“We did not try to do window dressing. We did not try to inflate our scores,” Phipps said. “We feel like we’ve managed the resources that we did have well.”