Central Christian School Accreditation Secures Teachers, Aids Grants

in Clayton will have greater opportunities to measure student achievement and obtain grant funding thanks to its recent accreditation by the organization AdvancED. What's more, its teachers have the tools they need to stay certified.

"They were elated when the results came back," said Dana Scheidt, director of curriculum and instruction, describing the reaction to the November accreditation. The 2012-13 school year started last week.

The accrediting organization serves thousands of public and private schools throughout the U.S., its website states. Other St. Louis-area schools accredited by AdvancED include .

The process began with an extensive self-analysis of factors such as governance and leadership for staff and students, teaching and learning, and stakeholder communications and relationships, Scheidt said. Self-analysis generally takes between 12 and 18 months.

At the end of that period, officials with AdvancED visited to review documentation; interview students, parents and teachers; and visit classrooms, among other activities.

While private schools aren't required to become accredited, doing so opens the doors to grants, teacher well-being and other benefits, Scheidt said. For example, the school successfully a grant that put iPads into the hands of its fourth-graders earlier this year.

Reviewing the school's efforts under a microscope helped staff identify areas to work on even before news of the successful accreditation had arrived.

"It just pushed us to analyze the message surrounding everything," Scheidt said.

The accreditation process also helped staff identify standardized tests that might help them better compare their students with peers from around the U.S.

The school previously administered the Stanford Achievement Test. Students struggled with it because it didn't match the school's curriculum, Scheidt said. Now, the school is using ERB, and students performed beautifully on it because it aligns better with math and literacy curricula, she said. Staff are exploring other kinds of tests that can be administered periodically during the school year to use for instruction.

AdvancEd also offered areas of encouragement. It pushed to continue focusing on adding technology and growing its endowment. It also applauded its integration of faith and learning.

Those findings will continue to help the school.

"There's just such drive and a lot of trust" among administrators, parents and students, Scheidt said.