Mount Carmel School announced that its accreditation has been renewed, marking 25 years since the initial achievement of this distinction in 1995. Mount Carmel School’s accreditation is currently granted by Cognia™, a nonprofit improvement organization that provides quality assurance for schools, school districts, and education service providers. Cognia’s report accompanying the accreditation renewal also recognized the school for several impressive achievements.
School president, Galvin Deleon Guerrero, EdD, expressed his appreciation for the milestone. He stated, “I thank Cognia and our accreditation chairs, Counselor Tobed Smith and Vice-Principal Bobby Baldazo, as well as the entire school family, for all their hard work in making this happen.” He added, “It is a privilege to earn this accreditation renewal with commendations from Cognia because accreditation, as conferred by the Cognia Global Accreditation Commission, provides a nationally recognized mark of quality for our school.”
Cognia’s accreditation report gave Mount Carmel School high marks in a number of areas. Based on Cognia’s Index of Educational Quality (IEQ), Mount Carmel School’s IEQ score is 293, which is higher than the Cognia institutional average range of 278.34–283.33. The report recognized the school as achieving high impact in several categories, including school mission, leadership & governance, stakeholder engagement, and strategic use of resources. The team writing the report also commended the school for some key strengths, including the school’s culture of family, a dedicated board and leadership, and a diversity of stakeholders. As the report stated, “There exists a culture of family that is impactful to promoting the school’s purpose.” The report added, “The dedicated and impactful board and leadership demonstrate commitment and dedication to meeting the needs of the school culture with students as the focal point of their work.”
In addition to the commendations, the report offered clear and useful guidance for improvement in important areas such as curriculum, systemic and systematic processes, and procedures, formalized supervision and evaluation, and data analysis. According to the school principal, Frances Taimanao, “We look forward to using the valuable insights of this report to develop our next strategic master plan and continue improving all that we do and all that we are.”
Throughout its more than 125 years of service, Cognia, formerly AdvancED, has globally recognized schools that meet rigorous standards focused on productive learning environments, equitable resource allocation for the needs of learners, and effective leadership. Earning accreditation from the Cognia Global Accreditation Commission is a recognition that the school meets Cognia Standards of Quality and maintains a commitment to continuous improvement. To earn Cognia accreditation, a school also must implement a continuous process of improvement and submit to external review. Schools in good standing can maintain their accreditation for a five-year term.
Dr. Mark A. Elgart, president and CEO of Cognia, stated, “Cognia Accreditation is a rigorous process that focuses the entire school and its community on the primary goal of preparing lifelong learners in engaging environments where all students can flourish. Mount Carmel School has demonstrated that it has continually met high standards and made progress on key indicators that impact student learning. Maintaining their accredited status for 25 years highlights a commitment to the quality and improvement of the education provided.”
Cognia is the parent organization of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC), and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI). Parents and interested community members can learn more about the Cognia Accreditation at cognia.org
For more information about Mount Carmel School, visit www.mountcarmelsaipan.com
