AdvancED Accreditation

CLIFTON  For the past 16 months, the Diocesan Schools Office and schools in the Diocese of Paterson have been working together to renew accreditation status through AdvancED, the world’s largest community of education professionals.

Visitations by a team of six AdvancED members occurred April 3-5 at eight diocesan schools to assess teaching and learning impact, leadership capacity and resource utilization. The team also addressed improvement opportunities for the schools. Interviews were given by those involved with Catholic school education including Bishop Serratelli; Mary Baier, superintendent of schools; diocesan senior staff members; pastors and chaplains; schools office officials; school administrators; faculty members; students; parents; local community members; and consultants and partners.

The three-day visit began with a presentation led by Baier; Deborah Duane, diocesan associate superintendent, and a team of school principals. Father Peter Clarke, principal of DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne, celebrated Mass in the Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Oratory in the Diocesan Pastoral Center here. On the final day of AdvanED’s visit, school administrators came to the St. John Paul II Center here with the AdvancED team to listen to the evaluation, There, they learned that diocesan Catholic schools have once again earned AdvancED accreditation.

Baier thanked AdvancED as well as diocesan school administrators for their commitment to Catholic education. “We truly gather today together as a community of schools. To celebrate our strengths, acknowledge and address our challenges, always continuing to do the Lord’s work and embracing the wonderful opportunities before us with such great hope for our future,” she said.

Michael Pizzingrillo, lead evaluator, who is vice president of New York Operations for Catapult Learning and former superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., said, “You are creating a world of opportunities for every learner and we are so happy to again recommend reaccreditation. We loved being with you and your students this week. Your students are the true shining stars and the No. 1 marketers of your schools. They love your schools, they love their teachers and they love learning.”

AdvancED serves 34,000 schools and systems — employing more than four million educators and enrolling more than 20 million students — across the United States and 70 other nations. The organization conducts rigorous, on-site external reviews of pre-k to 12 schools and school systems to ensure that all learners realize their full potential.

Diocesan schools scored high in its learning environments, which focus on seven areas — equitable learning, high expectations, supportive learning, active learning, progress monitoring and feedback, well-managed, and digital learning. The schools surpassed the criteria of AdvancED in all these areas by a significant margin. Specifically noted were the opportunities diocesan schools gave students in digital learning and technology.

To earn this accreditation, the Schools Office sought input from stakeholders, assessed itself critically, developed and implemented polices and practices that aligned with AdvancED and Catholic standards and gathered countless items of evidence to support its continuous improvement plans.

Baier said, “All this we do knowing as workers in the ministry of Catholic education we depend upon the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us for the good of those we teach. It is only together that we can grow and enrich the ministry of Catholic schools.”

[Information: www.advanc-ed.org.]