EC Accreditation Team Blog Series: Post 7

Eastern Christian School is Accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

What is Accreditation? Accreditation is the act of granting credit or recognition that maintains suitable standards. Why do we pursue Accreditation? Accreditation is necessary to any person or institution in education that needs to prove that they meet a general standard of quality. When we claim that Eastern Christian School is an excellent school that embraces a culture of constant improvement, we want to be able to back that up. Middle States is a widely known and respected Accreditation body. When we say that we are accredited by Middle States, that recognition   is significant. The Accreditation Team, made up of 27 EC parents, community members, board members, administration, teachers, and students meets over an 18 month period to pursue success across various standards of excellence.

In this blog series, we will regularly update the EC community on the results of the team’s findings. Based on community survey feedback, committee thinking and conversation, and prayer, we will delve deeply into these standards with the goal of improving in all areas, and ultimately pass the accreditation review in 2017 with flying colors! We are excited to share these results as a sign of transparency and as a welcome invite to the EC community for feedback on the various topics being discussed. Each Blog Post will be written by a different team member, and will answer three key questions: What did we study? What did we find? What do we hope to accomplish?

An Accreditation Quiz:  Post #7

If an accreditation meeting were a quiz, it would look something like this:

This is an open-note quiz.  Take out your pen, pencil or appropriate device and follow the instructions listed below.  Please collaborate with teachers, board members, parents and students to determine the best answers.  This is important, not for a grade, but for mapping the future of Eastern Christian School for the next 7 years.

Matching (match the terms to their definitions):

Terms
___Global Competence
___Character
___Strategic Plan

Definitions
a. The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual
b. A systematic process of envisioning a desired future, and translating this vision into  broadly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them.
c.   The capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance.

Short Answer (answer the following in three to five sentences):

1. If a student is globally competent, what will he or she be able to do?
2. Why is character, specifically Christian character, important?  What does Christian character look like?
3. If you were to write a strategic plan for Eastern Christian School, what would it include?  Why?

Essay (please limit your response to an essay of 500-1000 words):

Choose one of the following topics and discuss.  Include a thesis statement, definition of terms and supporting details.  Be sure to connect your essay to the mission and vision statements of Eastern Christian School.  Include a visual representation that will provide clear evidence of the connection between your topic and the graduate profile
Topics choices:  Global Competence, Christian Character, Strategic Planning

Teacher Notes:

Does this sound like an ambitious assignment?  It is!

Accreditation is hard work.  We aren’t looking for a rubber-stamp process that will allow us to continue to operate as an accredited school.  We are seeking opportunities to grow our students, teachers, administrators and broader school community.

Based on the quiz above, you may have been able to identify the three main strands that have emerged as a result of the accreditation work done to date.  After reviewing survey and other data, engaging in discussions with various stakeholder groups, and interacting with accreditation standards, three main areas of focus have emerged for planning:  global competence, character, and a system-wide strategic plan.

We look forward to the work of answering the questions posed in the quiz.  How do we define, implement, and measure success in those three areas?  Those answers will inform our work over the next 7 years.

The EC Accreditation Team: Tina Bucci, Allison Dalessandro, Liesl Botbyl, Rebekah Sankey, Tom Dykhouse, Dick Van Yperen, Sandy Bottge, Daniel Lazor, Ruth Kuder, Debi Veenstra, Mary Faber, Beth Hoffman, Philip Verrengia, Paul Beverly, Kristen Rudd, Nick Kuiken, Steve Gorter, Rudi Gesch, K.C. Vande Streek, Doug Struyk, Emmanuella Pierre, Diana Ibrahim, Becky Parker, Melanie Castro-Bedoya, Scott Steenstra, Sung Namgung

The committee welcomes feedback from all EC Community members. If you have questions/comments, please contact Internal Coordinator Tina Bucci