The deadline to complete the Limestone County School’s AdvancED survey is fast approaching.

The short survey is part of the county’s accreditation process with AdvancED, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that conducts rigorous, onsite reviews of school systems.

According to their official website, AdvancED’s goal “isn’t to certify that educational institutions are good enough. Rather, our commitment is to help these institutions continuously improve.”

Brad Lewis, executive director of curriculum and instruction for Limestone County Schools, said the system undergoes a review by AdvancED once every five years.

In addition to accrediting the county schools, Lewis said AdvancED reviews their continuing improvement and strategic plans to make sure they are following through with the programs outlined in these documents.

The surveys, which went out to students, teachers and parents, contain questions designed to gauge the climate and culture in area schools. For a fee, AdvancED provides school systems with surveys, organizational platform to collect information, professional training and the review team. The system is required to collect surveys from 20 percent of parents, 40 percent of students and 60 percent of teachers.

Members of Limestone County Schools’ school board and central office staff recently underwent a two-hour training led by Dr. Andre Harrison, state director for AdvancED, where they learned how to analyze the surveys and use the information they contain to create an effective plan to advance county schools.

“We’ll analyze the information in the surveys over the summer so we can write a strategic plan that will be ready to be reviewed by the AdvancED team in February of next year,” Lewis said. “They will review the evidence we provide them, but they will also go out to the schools and interview students and teachers to see if we are really following through on what is in our strategic plan.”

Athens City Schools are also AdvancED-accredited, having undergone their last review in 2015.

Parents can access the surveys on the individual school websites until May 20.