Cloverdale schools earn good marks

Thursday, January 26, 2017

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Community School Corporation has passed its AdvancED Accreditation examination with flying colors.

A team of five evaluators consisting of a communication director, superintendent, curriculum and instruction specialist and a fifth-grade teacher have spent three days interviewing school board members and visiting classrooms. The team also interviewed administration, teachers, students, parents and community members.

The team evaluated the school on three criteria: Learning and teaching impact, leadership and governance and use of resources.

In the learning and teaching impact category, the evaluators commended Cloverdale for providing each student with an advocate who will help them in their education. It suggested using more formative assessments (which the school is already working on) as well as providing professional improvement to teachers and improving communication with stakeholders.

In the leadership category, Cloverdale was congratulated for having an efficient governance system with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. The team suggested instituting a formal and public process for reaffirming the school’s purpose on a regular basis.

In the use of resources category, the team said that Cloverdale had safe, clean and healthy facilities for its students, teachers, and administrators.

“We really want to commend you for your commitment to the continuous improvement process” Lead evaluator Lisa Stone said. “It was so evident that all the leaders are united in their mission for students. The interactions among leaders, teachers and students, they were all very respectful, caring. We all felt it here in your corporation. Your sense of community, it’s to be admired. We had one stakeholder say, ‘We bleed green.’”

Overall the school received a score of 287.80, nearly nine points more than the average school participating in AdvancED. Cloverdale outscored other AdvancED accredited schools by an average of 12 points, receiving the lowest score in teaching and learning impact and the highest in the use of resources.

These scores more than qualify Cloverdale for AdvancED accreditation, and the school will be required to report on its progress in two years. Cloverdale was also accredited in 2012.

“I would like to thank the AdvancED team for being here the last three days,” Superintendent Greg Linton said. “We appreciate the process and also the indicators that you left us with as far as areas where we can improve. We appreciate that and we’ll begin working on that soon. I also want to thank the members of the leadership team. Everyone has a full plate and each one of you willingly took on the responsibility to be a leader in this process and that is appreciated. I also want to thank Cathy (Ames). She has done an outstanding job throughout this entire process and I know we appreciate all the work you’ve put into it.”

AdvancED is a non-profit community of education professionals. The accreditation is optional, and Cloverdale is the only participating school in Putnam County. For more information, visit www.advanc-ed.org.

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