The Middle States Association’s Commission on Secondary Schools has announced that Indiana Area Senior High School has been has been accredited for the period ending November 1, 2013.  The decision to accredit the school was made following a three and one-half day visit to the school in April 2006 by a visiting team of educators from member schools of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools appointed by the Commission on Secondary Schools.

During the visit, the Middle States team met with and interviewed representatives of the school’s stakeholders, including teachers, students, parents, and administrators, as well as representatives of the Indiana Area Board of School Directors.  Team members also toured the school’s facilities, studied the school’s strategic plan for school improvement and other documents related to the school’s work, and observed teaching and learning in classrooms.

To be accredited by the Commission on Secondary Schools, a school must meet the Middle States Association’s standards for each major area of a school’s work and activity. These areas include the school’s philosophy/mission/beliefs/objectives, governance and leadership, organizational design and staff, educational programs, learning media services and technology, student services, student life and activities, facilities, health and safety, finances, assessment of student learning, and planning.

However, because Indiana Area Senior High School elected to use the Accreditation for Growth protocol for accreditation, the school was required to do more than meet the Association’s standards to be accredited.  Accreditation for Growth (AFG) is a unique accreditation process that uses strategic planning as a vehicle for school improvement and growth in student performance.  In AFG, the primary determinants of progress are not the resources a community provides for its schools (the inputs) but, instead, the actual results of the school’s work—the students’ performance.  AFG requires the school to establish objectives for improving student performance based on a vision of a preferred future for the school. The student performance objectives identified by Indiana Area Senior High School are:

Objective One - By the year 2012, the students will increase academic achievement as measured by:

a.    a cumulative increase in PSSA scores based on performance levels.

b.    a 15 point increase over a seven year period in the average SAT (critical reading and mathematics) while maintaining a comparative level of participation.

c.    a 5% increase in the number of students entering post high school training/education.

d.    a 3% increase in the number of students enrolling in a fourth year math and/or science course.

Objective Two - By the year 2012, students will demonstrate an increase in responsibility as a contributing member within the school and global community as measured by:

 a.     a 5% increase in the percentage of students involved in one or more school extracurricular activities and/or community service as determined by an in-house teacher verified survey.

 b.     a 5% decrease in percentage of students referred for disciplinary action (Levels II, III, IV) 1 or more times in the school year.

 c.    a 3% increase in percentage of the attendance rate for all students.

 d.     maintaining or increasing the percentage of students who graduate within 4 years of entering 9^th grade by continuing the mentoring program and the expanded PSSA remediation program.

By choosing AFG as its accreditation protocol, Indiana Area Senior High School also made several commitments. It committed to focusing its work on the end results—improved student performance—as the primary priority for school improvement efforts.  It committed to operating the school from a vision of where it wants and/or needs to go with its mission and beliefs serving as a unifying force for change. It committed to including a varied spectrum of stakeholders in the process of continually defining a preferred vision, in developing the means to get closer to that vision, and in implementing action plans developed by these stakeholders. It committed to a process in which progress will be continuously reviewed. And, it agreed to participate in a peer review and external validation process by accepting outside visitors.

Ongoing review is the hallmark of the AFG protocol, and Indiana Area Senior High School is required to conduct an annual review of the plan and the school’s progress toward achieving its student performance objectives and to communicate the results of its work to the school’s community.  At the end of the accreditation period, a Validation Team will make an onsite visit to the school to examine the results of these annual reviews, the school’s planning processes, and the content of the strategic plan.  At the midpoint juncture in the accreditation cycle, one individual, appointed by the Middle States Association, will make a one-day onsite visit. 

 “Indiana Area Senior High School is to be congratulated for having completed the rigorous and demanding accreditation review process successfully,” said Dr. Henry G. Cram, Executive Director of the Commission on Secondary Schools. “By meeting the standards of the Association, and by having established a comprehensive and challenging strategic plan to improve targeted areas of student performance, Indiana Area Senior High School has joined a growing number of schools in the Middle States region that are committed to public accountability for their results. The Commission encourages the entire Indiana Area Senior High School community to join together in supporting the school as it seeks to achieve its objectives.”

For more information about the accreditation of the Indiana Area Senior High School,  contact:  Wade McElheny, Principal, at 724-463-8562.