We are fortunate to have successful partnerships with state education agencies, district, and school leaders, and it is our objective to help them achieve their goals of student achievement and improvement. This edition of The Source features examples of how Cognia collaborates with partners such as the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, to build the state’s capacity and standardize a continuous improvement process for schools and provide leadership counsel for district superintendents and principals. Together state accountability and regional accreditation efforts can be aligned to improve school performance.

Research indicates that accreditation and school inspection practices aligned with continuous improvement frameworks are most likely to lead to school improvement and be perceived as valuable by institutions. Whether preparing for accreditation reviews, conducting root cause analyses of underperformance in Diagnostic Reviews, or planning and implementing school turnaround, our improvement experts partner with you to collect, analyze, and identify actionable data for improvement. In working alongside educators, we serve as coaches and guides to problem solve unique leadership challenges for superintendents and principals and help institutions scale professional learning with a purpose. These partnerships also help us improve how we offer support and deliver on our promise to you—iron sharpens iron.

State School Superintendent, Kirsten Baesler has said “Progress travels at the speed of trust, and trust begins with relationships.” We value our relationships with our partner SEAs, districts, and schools and enjoy hearing about and sharing your successes within our network and beyond.

Inside this edition:

Yours in partnership,

Mark A. Elgart, Ed.D.
Dr. Mark A. Elgart has served as president and CEO of Cognia since 2002. Under his leadership Cognia was established, following the merger of AdvancED and Measured Progress, to bridge the gap between school evaluation and student assessment.  Cognia serves as the trusted partner with over 36,000 institutions in 85 countries to advance learning for 25 million students.  Elgart has a long, distinguished career of 40 years as an educational leader including time as a math and physics teacher, school principal, and chief executive leading a global, education non-profit.  He is annually recognized, both locally and internationally, as an influential leader in education due to his impact on education policy and the work of schools.  He is an internationally recognized speaker on education and frequent author on educational issues including recent whitepapers on federal policy and school improvement.  In education, Elgart is widely viewed as the foremost authority on school improvement and education quality.  Elgart earned a bachelor’s  in Mathematics from Springfield College, a master’s in Educational Administration from Westfield State College, and Doctorate in Education in Leadership in Schooling from the University of Massachusetts.

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