Skip Navigation

WHAT IS ACCREDITATION?

Accreditation is a process that all Catholic schools go through to evaluate their current programs, celebrate their successes, and identify areas where they can continue to grow. Our accrediting agency is the Western Catholic Educational Association. By engaging in the accreditation process, we review several key areas critical to our school's success:


1. Mission and Catholic Identity 
2. Governance and Leadership 
3. Academic Excellence 
4. Operational Vitality

The process of accreditation involves three phases.

PHASE ONE

In phase one, we revisit several key documents such as our mission statement, philosophy, and SLEs. We gather data and other types of evidence to demonstrate the importance of the Catholic faith, academic excellence, and operational vitality. We began this work in the spring of 2022, and we will complete it over the next few months.

PHASE TWO

In phase two, we will carefully analyze our data and evidence to identify key strengths and areas of growth. We will begin writing a report that will be given to the accreditation commissioner of the Archdiocese of Portland and the chair of our Visiting Committee. The Visiting Committee consists of a chair from a different diocese or archdiocese and Catholic school staff members from our own archdiocese. They will visit our school in the fall of 2023 to review our report, data, and evidence.

PHASE THREE

In phase three, we will complete an Educational Improvement Plan, which will give us a clear direction in moving our school forward.


How will parents be involved?

You will receive updates on our accreditation process each month via this website. You will also be asked to complete some very important surveys in November. We will keep you informed as we develop our Educational Improvement Plan and our report, and we will periodically request your feedback.  Our School Advisory Council members will be engaging with various accreditation committees. There will be other opportunities for parents to get involved along the way, so stay tuned! Questions about the process are always welcome!

How will students be involved?

Students will also complete some surveys for the accreditation team. They will not be personally identified on their surveys. We have a group of middle school students who will assist our staff in identifying key strengths and areas for growth.

 

Thank you for your support as we continue this important process!