Education

WorldStrides Celebrates AdvancED Re-Accreditation

It’s official – we love education and it shows! WorldStrides hosted an external review team from AdvancED as part of our re-accreditation process and it was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the many ways in which we support educators and students from across the country and around the globe. The Curriculum and Academics team took the lead on the self-study process, which included more than two years of dedicated preparation with contributions from hundreds of WorldStrides staff. Each accreditation standard had a dedicated committee that gathered resources in support of our external review.

The process of accreditation involves extensive internal review diagnostics that include an improvement plan, student performance diagnostics, self-assessment, executive summary, stakeholder feedback, and assurances. The process and the requirements are designed to support an organization in multiple ways, particularly by emphasizing measurement and ensuring that what is promoted is delivered and what is intended actually takes place. The standards for quality describe conditions to achieve higher levels of student performance and guide organizational effectiveness and continuous improvement efforts. WorldStrides is proud to have earned the highest possible scores in both purpose and direction and resources and support systems.

The Curriculum and Academics team noted that it was a pleasure having the opportunity to shine a spotlight on the steady educational work that occurs at WorldStrides every day. There is an increasing awareness of the importance of choosing an education travel partner who understands what it means to meet the needs to today’s learners, to align a program to your curriculum, to partner with you for your professional development needs, to deliver a range of instructional strategies beyond classroom walls, and to engage students through active participation. Our reaccreditation process is a great time to showcase our ongoing commitment to education.

Accreditation is a voluntary process and WorldStrides is delighted to participate! We welcome the opportunity for external evaluators with education expertise to hold us to the highest in education standards and to recognize us for the powerful student learning outcomes that our experiential learning programs produce.  It’s one thing for us to say that we are educational and it’s another for a full team of accreditors to commend us for our educational mission, for our safety and security, for our leadership and governance, for our programs and instruction, and for our continued attentiveness to innovation and improvement.

The AdvancED external review team noted WorldStrides’ excellence in their report, stating “The leadership and staff at all levels of the corporation have committed to a culture of excellence that is consistent with the corporation’s purpose and direction.” They went on to add that “although the main purpose and focus of its core business is to provide travel study experiences for students, their collective commitment is unparalleled to ensure the experiential travel programs ‘ignite personal growth’.”

In addition to being accredited by AdvancED at both the School level and Corporate level, WorldStrides is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the Middle States Association as a Learning Services Provider.

Read our AdvancED re-accreditation press release.