System-wide accreditation a selling point with parents

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans have begun a year-long process that will lead to district accreditation by the nonprofit assessment organization Cognia.

Dr. RaeNell Houston, director of the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Office of Catholic Education and Faith Formation, initiated discussions about district accreditation in April with Dr. Jan Lancaster of Innovative Solutions.

Lancaster is versed in accreditation, having worked with other school systems and having applied for her first accreditation as principal of St. Rita School in Harahan in 1990. She and Houston had previously explored archdiocesan-wide accreditation when Lancaster was superintendent of archdiocesan Catholic schools, but resources didn’t allow that pursuit at the time.

“I’m really excited that we’ve finally been able to pursue accreditation,” Houston said. “We know it will be for the betterment of our leaders and those that they serve.”

Accreditation by an independent organization validates a school’s assertion that it maintains a “culture of ongoing improvement.”

Lancaster said Cognia accreditation shows that a constant action plan is in place for improvement “where you look at your data and make data-informed decisions. … You see where your students are and what improvements need to be made in different areas of education.”

Process unpacked
Catholic school leaders – principals, assistant principals, presidents and heads of school – met June 9 with Lancaster at Notre Dame Seminary’s  Schulte Auditorium for an explanation of the accreditation process.   

Lancaster immediately addressed concerns school leaders might have about district-wide accreditation – that the process is too quick or that schools would lose their autonomy.

Lancaster assured accredited schools that their work would be minimal and require fewer meetings since “evidence” gained from their most recent accreditation could be applied to the district accreditation. Since schools complete individual school-improvement action plans, autonomy will not be affected.

She distributed Cognia packets detailing four new performance standards that all K-12 and post-secondary institutions must meet for accreditation. Cognia states that “the hallmark of a good school is that it continually strives for improvement.”

The new standards focus on individual learners and how a school’s culture and curriculum affect learner growth. Cognia offers specific standards for each characteristic of learning and spells out improvement methods that focus on strengths, areas that have improved and challenges that need to be tackled, Lancaster said.

“Key characteristics still focus on learning, research and resources to carry out your mission,” she said. “Here, they are talking about the culture of learning, leadership for learning, engagement of and growth in learning. … I like this because it covers how the leadership focuses on learning, resources and students.”

She mentioned that Cognia stresses the culture of learning, the leadership for learning and the engagement of and growth in learning. The study seeks to determine how schools are fulfilling their mission, engaging students, carrying out and evaluating the success and impact of new initiatives, offering teacher growth or engaging its stakeholders.

“Our schools very naturally are embedded in this constant culture of school improvement,” Lancaster said. “That’s just who we are. … Each one will do the work to ensure they are the best educational institution within their Catholic mission that they can possibly be. How each school accomplishes this might be totally different. We as an archdiocese will look at themes and commonalities and help address those things as an archdiocese.”

District-wide excellence
The majority of Catholic schools in the archdiocese are opting into the accreditation process, and all but six have previously been accredited.

By the end of the district accreditation, the system will be identified as one that “best exemplifies excellence in education and stands out in its service to learners; a system that effectively implements high-quality instruction, shows consistent organizational effectiveness and maintains a commitment to continuous improvement.”

“It’s no longer a school or diocese that just says it has good schools,” Lancaster said. “District accreditation shows that a diocese of schools has been through a rigorous process.”

Lancaster and Houston said being accredited is one factor a parent considers when choosing a school.

“They recognize the importance of external accreditations,” Lancaster said. “It says that someone comes in and says this school, this archdiocese, is doing what it says it does. I think that is very reassuring. It’s one more validation; it’s one more accreditation that shows we are, indeed, dedicated to the mission of the children we serve. It’s one more validation that we strive for excellence and are accomplishing our mission.”

Improvement is an ongoing process for Catholic schools in the archdiocese.

“At the end of the day, what’s most important is our Catholic identity, teaching, learning, assessment, resources and building community,” said Dr. Mark Williams, former associate superintendent for schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans who was just named the new superintendent of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. “It is essentially what all schools aspire to do.

“What Dr. Houston is trying to do (in this archdiocese) is establish more common denominators of how everyone’s going to meet these standards and make decisions based on data and see what schools, systemwide, need more help from the superintendent. Now, we are speaking a common language,” he said. “We are going to speak the Archdiocese of New Orleans language.”

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