Seven administrators representing the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) will visit the campus on Nov. 28-Dec. 1. They will assess programs and determine the campus? level of accreditation.

?Accreditation provides a great opportunity for us to improve our school,? Jon Endicott, associate principal, said. ?Mr. (Tim) Wilkins and Mrs. (Debbie) Siebert have spent several months working on accreditation, and the work that we have been doing has been going on for several years.?

The accreditators last came to campus in 2000 and since then the assessment format changed.

Previously, accreditation involved completing documents in order to answer questions required by the accreditators. Under the new system, the administrators will choose programs to present as the core projects.

One of the core projects is the PowerSchool project.

?The PowerSchool project involves the creation of the Vault, putting grades and future assignments on PowerSchool and the training of teachers to adopt the technology,? Endicott said. ?We want to show the accreditators that the school, teachers and students are capable of adapting to new technologies.?

The other core project has been in work for three years and moves from curriculum driven to assessment driven.

?Instead of presenting information to the students and having tests to see if they understand the material, we want to promote higher level of critical thinking to see if the students truly understand the material while meeting their needs,? Endicott said. ?I encourage the students to not panic if they [accreditators] ask them questions. If they do ask questions, just tell them about yourself and your activities.?

Principal Gary Schultz held a chapel assembly to explain accreditation information and affects to students on Nov. 21.

?I learned that accreditation is ACSI?s stamp of approval for the school that shows that the school prepares students for college,? Matthew Nickel, ?08, said. ?If we don?t have accreditation, it will be harder to get into college.?

For more information on the process of accreditation and why it benefits students, go online to read the Sept. 12, 2006, article, Accreditation significance exceeds policies, standards by Taylor Torrence.