10/21/15 — Wayne school official visits Mideast

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Wayne school official visits Mideast

By From staff reports
Published in News on October 21, 2015 1:46 PM

Dr. Cynthia Reynolds, director of secondary education/accreditation with Wayne County Public Schools, was afforded an opportunity to travel to Saudi Arabia as part of an AdvancED international school accreditation and quality assurance review team.

While there, the team will conduct interviews with school stakeholders, classroom observations, and a review of school documents and student performance results. It will also develop a Quality Assurance Review report detailing its findings from the visit. As the largest accreditation and school improvement organization in the Middle East, AdvancED is serves over 200 schools in 12 countries.

"AdvancEd's mission is to help schools and districts across the world improve student performance, commit to continuous improvement, reach operational excellence, and prepare to lead and educate in a global environment," she said. "The team I am working with will assess the American components of an international curriculum at a grades K-12 school with approximately 700 students to determine if the curriculum and the school's education standards are aligned with AdvancED's accreditation criteria."

Ms. Reynolds has worked with AdvancED since 2009, taking part in quality assurance reviews both in North Carolina and outside the state. This will be her third overseas trip serving on an international school accreditation and quality assurance review team. She previously traveled to London, England and Cairo, Egypt.

"Having the opportunity to serve on state and international accreditation teams provides Dr. Reynolds a wealth of knowledge and experience that she can bring back to WCPS," said Tamara Berman-Ishee, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. "In her district role, Dr. Reynolds can help the curriculum and instruction department translate those strategies and best classroom practices into strong local professional development opportunities for staff that can help bring positive improvements in teaching and learning."

Ms. Reynolds has worked in education since 1998 and has 22 years experience as a business teacher at various schools, including Goldsboro High, before transitioning to administration in 2004 as an assistant principal at Spring Creek High. She joined the district's administrative offices in 2010 as director of middle grades/professional development/accreditation before taking on her current duties.