Re-Accreditation

By Dr. Terry Macaluso, Head of School

You’ve probably heard about the NWAIS re-accreditation process we’re in this year.  Every 8 years we go through a lengthy review of programs and policies in preparation for a visiting team to spend three days on our campus—observing us.  This academic year we’re working on our self-study.  Next October a team of heads, faculty and professional staff will spend time talking with us and observing our work—to discern the degree to which our mission is, indeed, in evidence.

Last Monday—when our students were at home and NOT at school—all faculty and staff were working on the self-study.  The study includes these sections:

  • School Mission and Culture
  • Program
  • Governance
  • Administration
  • Finance
  • Human Resources
  • Institutional Advancement
  • Enrollment Management
  • Commitment to Care
  • Campus and Facilities
  • Health and Safety

There is a single individual responsible for each of those sections.  A day like Monday is essential to make the process inclusive, and to prepare an excellent report.  On Monday we worked in small groups—faculty and staff assigned to a specific section—tasked with reading the document draft in advance and preparing to critique it.

I have responsibility for Mission and Culture, Governance, and Administration.  Faculty and staff were fabulous reviewers of my first drafts.  I had left out about half of the specific information that should have been included.  They had ideas about better ways to describe what I was trying to describe—and the document is already 100% improved from draft one.  Just to anticipate…our next Professional Development Day is on February 16.  Again—students will NOT be at school, and faculty and staff will be working on the second drafts—with the hope of getting them close to final draft condition.

Thank you for understanding how important it is for us to be able to work as a team on projects like this one.  In this case, the school’s accreditation depends upon us being able to present a comprehensive and articulate portrait of EPS.  Without professional development time—that simply would not happen.