Accreditations

Cognia Accreditation

Bridges Middle School is accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC), an accreditation commission of Cognia.  Accreditation is pivotal in leveraging education quality and continuous improvement. Using a set of rigorous research-based standards, the Cognia Accreditation Process examines the whole institution—the program, the cultural context, and the community of stakeholders—to determine how well the parts work together to meet the needs of learners. Through the accreditation process, highly skilled and trained Cognia Evaluator(s) review evidence and information pertinent to evaluating an institution’s performance against the research-based Cognia Performance Standards. Cognia Evaluator(s) use these Standards to assess the quality of learning environments to gain valuable insights and target improvements in teaching and learning. Cognia provides Standards that are tailored for all education providers so that the benefits of accreditation are universal across the education community. 

Through a comprehensive review of evidence and information, our Cognia Evaluator(s) gain a broad understanding of institution quality. Using the Standards, the Cognia Evaluator(s) provide valuable feedback to institutions, which helps to focus and guide each institution’s improvement journey. 

Cognia provides the Index of Education Quality (IEQ) as a holistic measure of overall performance based on a comprehensive set of standards and review criteria. This formative tool for improvement identifies areas of success and areas in need of focus. The IEQ comprises the Standards Diagnostic ratings from the three Domains: Leadership Capacity, Learning Capacity, and Resource Capacity. The IEQ results are reported on a scale of 100 to 400 and provide information about how the institution is performing compared to expected criteria. Institutions should review the IEQ in relation to the Findings from the review in the areas of Initiate, Improve, and Impact. 

Bridges completed its 5-year external review in June of 2022. Below is Bridges 2022 IEQ along with the average (range) of all Cognia Improvement Network (CIN) institutions evaluated for accreditation in the last five years. 

Of particular note is our outstanding scores across the board in the Learning Capacity Domain. 

The impact of teaching and learning on student achievement and success is the primary expectation of Bridges. An effective learning culture is characterized by positive and productive teacher/learner relationships, high expectations and standards, a challenging and engaging curriculum, quality instruction and comprehensive support that enable all learners to be successful, and assessment practices (formative and summative) that monitor and measure learner progress and achievement. Moreover, a quality institution evaluates the impact of its learning culture, including all programs and support services, and adjusts accordingly.

You can download a copy of the full Accreditation Review Report here (PDF).

Cognia 
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