While students may have been hearing the word “accreditation” tossed around throughout the fall, there seems to be a layer of mystery surrounding this unfamiliar word. Whether one knows it or not, Fresno Christian is currently immersed in the accreditation process. As it turns out the outcome of this process applies directly to the students.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, “accredit” means “to give official authorization to or approval of.” Thus, accreditation is a fancy word that means, “the process of giving something an official authorization or approval.”

Although accreditation is important, a great deal of students have not learned the term. Senior Ryan Neufeld echoes the words of many others when he says, “I have no idea what it is and I haven’t heard a word about it.”

While many students may be in the dark when it comes to accreditation, every staff member knows of its importance. Since the school year began, teachers and administrators have been working to ensure that the school will be accredited come spring with half day meetings, checking curriculum guides and teaching standards.

Since 1981, the school has been awarded the highest level of accreditation there is. Superintendent Debbie Siebert explains what this means.

“We have been awarded the full-term status of six years every cycle since that first award,” Siebert said. “We hold ourselves accountable to objective evaluators from the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). These evaluators assess the spiritual aspects of each component of our organization and evaluate the educational quality and integrity of our school.”

Representatives from both organizations will be on campus from April 15-18. Siebert shares an overview of what needs to happen in order to accredited.

“We have to meet or exceed the standards that have been established by ACSI and WASC,” Siebert said. “For example, we need to be true to our philosophy, core values, and expected school-wide learning results.?

Instructors have been evaluating course content to ensure that it lines up with current standards. Math department head Michael Fenton says that a lot of reflection occurs during the accreditation process.

“The purpose of accreditation is to reflect on the culture, systems, structures, practices, etc., of our school in order to identify strengths and weaknesses,” Fenton said. “From that list of strengths and weaknesses the administration creates a school improvement plan to implement in the years that follow.”

During the school-wide service day, students began to organize and help take inventory of science teacher Dan Harris? classroom. This helped ensure the room was compatible to current lab standards. Harris and his teacher aids (T.A.s) are currently documenting the different lab materials as evidence to show that the lab is functional.

?Every period right now my T.A.s are slowly chugging through and the mess is slowly becoming less and less,? Harris said. ?It?s all getting documented out and we’re turning it into one online sheet of what we have and don?t have. I need to show evidence that our science department can meet the expectations of what a science department can.?

Harris sees the accreditation process as a good way to keep the school accountable to its goals.

?I think one of the purposes of accreditation is to encourage us to make sure that we are accomplishing what we want to,? Harris said. ?It?s sort of like how having a test coming up on a subject forces you to actually make sure you know it.?

Fenton says the accreditation process fits in nicely with what math classes are doing on an ongoing basis.

“The core piece of this school-wide approach mirrors what we do in the math department, namely, reflect, reflect, reflect,” Fenton said. “We’re regularly looking at what we’re doing, whether or not its effective, and considering how we can improve, on an individual basis, as well as an entire program.”

The school’s last accreditation year was in 2006. Since then, online resources such as PowerSchool and the Vault have been enhanced and better integrated with standards and the curriculum.

Every campus staff member has been assigned to one of ten committees. Every half day, stake-holders break into their committees to evaluate a specific standard. These standards range from spiritual development to nutrition services and everything in-between.

Siebert says that the committees are helpful because everyone plays a part in assessing the different areas which make up the school.

?All stake-holders participate in the self-study,? Siebert said. ?So to facilitate it, the half-days are really nice because that gives three hours of concentrated effort for everybody to just focus on the task at hand.?

As it turns out, the outcome of this accreditation process holds significant weight for students. Academic Adviser Molly Sargent shares how it directly affects those who want to attend college.

“Accreditation validates you as an academic institution and it also gives you credibility,” Sargent says. “And plus, if you graduate from a non-credited high school, many colleges won’t accept you.”

Though it is easy to view the accreditation process as laborious and boring, Sargent chooses to see past the paperwork. Accreditation helps the school accomplish their mission statement, she says.

“We want to be held to the highest academic standards,” Sargent said. “Even though our primary mission is to educate young people for a life of service for the kingdom (paraphrasing it), you do that through excellent education to help kids achieve their highest potential.”

For more information on academics, read the Nov. 16 article, CSF program assists student body.