Amman, Jordan
Mayar International Schools (MIS), located in Amman, Jordan, pursued Cognia’s accreditation process to continue and enhance its record of excellence. As a result, MIS increased educator capacity, boosted its credibility, provided a common understanding of standards, and improved classroom environment. Learn more about pathways to improvement with membership in the Cognia global network.
Challenges
Although Mayar International Schools (MIS) already had 12 different accreditations, its General Director, Dr. Nadia Kharbat, saw that working with Cognia would offer unique advantages. One of those benefits was using Cognia’s standards, continuous improvement process, and expertise in educational quality to further refine MIS’s practices, programs, and professional learning. She also knew that Cognia accreditation would boost MIS’s reputation and increase its appeal to prospective students and their parents.
Solutions
Using a set of rigorous research-based standards, the Cognia accreditation experts reviewed how well MIS’s programs, cultural context, and community of stakeholders work together to meet the needs of learners. A specially-trained team gathered first-hand evidence and information to analyze the school’s performance against Cognia’s standards.
Although each member of Dr. Kharbat’s administrative team had a particular specialty, they all went through training for the entire spectrum of those standards, gaining a more comprehensive knowledge base. In addition, MIS replaced most of its instructional support tools with Cognia’s tools, including the Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool® (eleot®), Inventories and Climate & Culture Instruments, Back-to-School Readiness Surveys, and Remote Learning Surveys.
Results
Cognia’s processes have strengthened the MIS team’s growth mindset. In fact, staff members have a new unofficial motto: Think Cognia. Also, as part of the accreditation process, Dr. Kharbat and her team researched and documented the school’s past accomplishments. Taking stock of their achievements significantly boosted their morale. Bringing those successes to the forefront also increased the school’s credibility with parents and students.
According to Cognia’s Student Engagement Survey, about 81% of students now have a deep personal investment in their own learning. The survey also found that 83% of students expressed both a love for the school and a sense of belonging. A similar percentage had a high desire to attend classes as well as to participate in school activities. Cognia’s Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool (eleot) found MIS to be above average for equitable learning, high expectations for students, supportive learning, active learning, progress monitoring, and well-managed learning.
Now that it has obtained a strong foundation for success with Cognia, MIS is looking to the future with new confidence.
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