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Minooka Community High School Receives Accreditation Renewal by North Central Association
(Minooka) – Minooka Community High School received a renewal on its North Central Accreditation certificate after a successful visit and review by representatives of the organization on Wednesday, April 2, 2008. The accreditation is valid through the next NCA visit in two years.
The visit by NCA representatives included meetings with the school’s internal improvement team, a student focus group, and other school leaders. At the end of the visit, the school was presented with a report that summarized the visit and identified numerous positive reinforcements of the school’s efforts during this cycle. Among several positive comments, the report commended MCHS for:
- remaining focused on this cycle’s goals of improving students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills, especially in light of the school’s recent growth in student population and change in leadership;
- involving all academic departments in brainstorming possible interventions and implementation of discipline-appropriate strategies;
- including the accountability of the strategy and intervention implementation in the teacher evaluation process, and;
- making a commitment to provide current technology to serve as an important tool in engaging students and staff in addressing goals.
The report also suggested two opportunities for improvement in the coming cycle, including:
- development of local assessments (at the department and classroom level) that are aligned to the curriculum and learning standards, and;
- desegregation of future data collections into appropriate sub-groups, such as ethnicity, low-income, and mobility.
Finally, the report commended several current practices at MCHS, which while not directly tied to this cycle’s goals, demonstrated an overall commitment to improving learning for all students, including:
- tracking individual student progress on testing, noting the number of years each student has been in District 111;
- implementing a “vocabulary word of the week” program
- remaining committed to keeping class sizes low;
- implementing interventions such as Read 180 and double-blocking algebra to better serve low performing students, and;
- engaging students with practice ACT and PLAN exams while including a self-analysis component in the process.
“Earning accreditation incorporates the entire staff in the decision-making process to select goals and interventions that impact student learning and achievement,” offered Donna Engel, MCHS Science Department Instructional Leader and MCHS NCA Steering Committee Coordinator. “It is not a moment in time, but a journey that leads us into a culture of school-wide improvement.”
“Our staff is to be commended for its ongoing commitment to helping more students learn more,” added MCHS Principal Bob Williams. “While the NCA accreditation process challenges us as an organization to collectively work toward improving student performance over time, the dedication of our staff on a daily basis, both in and out of the classroom, has contributed greatly to the level of success our students are able to achieve.”
According to the North Central Association’s web site (www.ncacasi.org), school accreditation focuses on how schools work to improve learning for all students. Accreditation by NCA involves a improvement cycle headed by teachers over a five-year period. During those years, schools collect and analyze data from various stakeholder groups and then establish goals and interventions (action strategies) to achieve those goals. At the end of the cycle, schools then again collect data measure the effectiveness of the interventions to find out if the goals were reached. Accreditation also assures parents and the public that the school is focused on raising student achievement, providing a safe and enriching learning environment, and maintaining an efficient and effective operation.
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