Two Consortium Schools Recommended for AdvancEd Accreditation
St. Bernadette School and Holy Cross School, members of the Omaha Catholic School Consortium, were recently recommended for AdvancEd accreditation. AdvancEd Accreditation for both schools will be made final this summer. AdvancED is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that conducts rigorous, on-site external reviews of Pre-K-12 schools and school systems to ensure that all learners realize their full potential.
An External Review Team made up of educators working with AdvancEd spent many hours at each school and examined:
- Student performance results
- Instructional quality
- Learner and family engagement
- Support services for student learning
- Curriculum quality and efficacy
- College and career readiness data
In addition, continuous improvement interviews were conducted with teachers, staff, students, parents, parishioners, parish pastors and Consortium leadership. Educators then identified Powerful Practices at each school as well as Opportunities for Improvement and an Improvement Priority.
Powerful Practices identified at Holy Cross include a faith-filled culture that contributes to strengthening the learning environment and commitment to serving others; the school’s principal has promoted innovation and growth among staff, communicated effectively with parents and community, and has developed a strong sense of community and pride among all stakeholders.
The team identified an Improvement Priority for Holy Cross: to initiate professional development for staff to support analyzing data and using that data to support instructional practices.
Powerful Practices at St. Bernadette include are a faith-filled community; caring and dedicated faculty and staff and a strong and effective building administrator with a strong Catholic culture.
Lastly, the team identified St. Bernadette’s Improvement Priority: professional development in data analysis to better guide instructional practices.
“We are grateful to the administrators, faculty, staff and volunteers who spent countless hours gathering information and meeting with the review teams to successfully navigate the AdvancEd accreditation process at St. Bernadette and Holy Cross. This process helped identify both our strengths and ways in which our schools can become even better, all for the benefit of the students we serve,” said Donna Bishop, Consortium executive director – assistant superintendent of Catholic Schools.
Click here to learn more about AdvancEd Accreditation.