Regional accreditation is a mark of quality for schools, but is it enough to simply say you’re “Accredited” anymore? To truly understand where a school is within its improvement journey, a more nuanced look at the whole institution is needed.

Cognia is modernizing accreditation with new accreditation statuses to provide transparency into each institution’s performance against Cognia standards. Student performance data now plays a larger role in Cognia Performance Standards as well—with a new standard focused on student growth. These changes are in service of our schools, leaders, and learners, pushing them towards excellence and leading to even higher levels of achievement and improvement. Cognia is raising the standard for accreditation to lead to meaningful change in schools.

In this edition of The Source, we share more information about the recent changes to the accreditation process, a new board governance certification, effective STEM integration, leadership strategies, non-traditional school models, and AI use in the classroom.

In this edition, let’s explore:

Mark A. Elgart, Ed.D.
Mark A. Elgart, Ed.D.,  serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cognia. Dr. Elgart works closely with government agencies and other leading education-focused organizations to help establish the policies, strategic vision, and actions to propel and transform the learning experience so that every learner is prepared for the rapidly and ever-changing global world. Dr. Elgart provides vision and leadership for a global nonprofit in over 100 countries, 40,000 institutions serving and supporting nearly 18 million students and 5 million educators every day. Cognia is an undeniable force for enhancing schools, engaging students, and driving better outcomes for all learners. Dr. Elgart’s professional experience includes serving as a mathematics and physics teacher; a middle and high school administrator; and a middle school principal. He earned a bachelor’s in mathematics from Springfield College, a master’s in education from Westfield State College, and a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts.

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