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Catholic schools
May 13, 2014
T
he Valley Catholic
Catholic schools and the culture of continuous school improvement
‘A Catholic school must be
grounded in the principles
of Catholic doctrine.’
fornia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana,
Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah,
and Washington.
Each (arch)diocese appoints a Commissioner who guides and manages the
process for each of the schools for which
they are responsible. The Commissioner
is the diocesan representative at Commission meetings and participates in
approving recommendations for accreditation.
• PROCESS & PROTOCOLS: Each
of the 35 Catholic schools in the Diocese
of San Jose conducts a self-study of its
programs using a specific protocol: elementary schools use Improving Student
Learning and secondary schools use
Ensuring Educational Excellence. Both
protocols focus on Catholic identity
as it relates to the quality of the school
program.
The Commissioner facilitates the
process by providing training and guidance to schools preparing the Self Study
document. A visiting committee of educators, appointed by the Commissioner,
spends three days at the school site to
validate the school’s findings. The findings are then sent to the Commission for
approval and eventually, accreditation.
• SELF STUDY & ACTION PLAN:
The Self Study is a narrative documenting the quality of the school program
and its areas of strength and growth.
After gathering, disaggregating, and
triangulating data from formative and
summative assessments, informal observations, and perception surveys, the
school leads a discussion involving all
shareholders.
Discussions revolve around evidence
of learning and student engagement
through participation in academic,
spiritual, and co-curricular programs.
From these discussions come the action plan goals and strategies that the
school identifies as its priority. Each
year, the school reports the following
to the Commissioner: progress to ݅ɐ)