The Iroquois-Kankakee Regional Office of Education has earned system accreditation by Cognia™, a nonprofit organization that provides quality assurance for schools, school districts and education service providers. Earning accreditation means that The I-KAN ROE is now recognized across the nation as a system that meets standards of quality and maintains a commitment to continuous improvement.
The I-KAN Regional Office of Education is one of 11 agencies that participated in the first ROE-ISC cohort in Illinois. I-KAN serves 19 districts, 2,000 educators and 26,000 students in Kankakee and Iroquois counties.
Cognia, formerly AdvancED, nationally recognizes educational agencies that meet rigorous standards focused on productive learning environments, equitable resource allocation that meet the needs of learners and effective leadership.
“Systems accreditation provides the I-KAN Regional Office of Education a nationally recognized mark of quality for our school system and each school within our system,” said I-KAN Regional Superintendent Gregg Murphy. “It demonstrates to our community our commitment to excellence, our openness to external review and feedback and our desire to be the best we can be on behalf of the students we serve.”
Superintendent Murphy added that the educators and school districts in the two county region, “Have always supported and continue to support the I-KAN Regional Office of Education in our efforts to work collaboratively, build on our strengths and never stop improving.”
To earn accreditation, a school district also must implement a continuous process of improvement and submit to internal and external review. School systems can maintain their accreditation for a five-year term.
Dr. Mark A. Elgart, president and CEO of Cognia, stated, “I-KAN Regional Office of Education is to be commended for demonstrating that it has met high standards, and is making progress on key indicators that impact student learning.”