Accreditation

Ohio Catholic Schools Accrediting Association

St. Vincent-St. Mary High School has been a member of OCSAA since 1994 when the organization was formed by the dioceses in Ohio.

North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.

St. Vincent-St. Mary High School has been a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools since 1951.

What does OCSAA and NCA/CASI Accreditation mean for STVM students, parents, and community?

• Gospel values permeate the curriculum, student activities and school environment;
• Students are taught by qualified teachers;
• Classes are of reasonable size and are appropriately staffed;
• The curriculum is sound, diverse, and rigorous;
• Student activity programs are plentiful;
• Students have access to a wide range of support services;
• The school environment is safe.

It means that students are taught by faculty who are dedicated to raising student performance and achievement and to fulfilling the STVM Mission Statement, “enlightening the mind, developing the body, touching the heart, and inspiring the soul.”

It means that students earn credit that is recognized by schools, colleges and universities around the world.

It means that students have access to specific sports programs, certain federal loans, various scholarships, and admission to colleges, technical schools, or military programs that require students to come from regionally accredited schools.

It means that St. Vincent-St. Mary High School goes beyond state requirements, opens its doors to review and validation, and holds itself accountable for meeting locally, nationally, and internationally recognized standards of excellence and committing to the formulation and implementation of an ongoing School Improvement Plan.

Continuous Improvement: Progress Update on School Improvement Plan

In March of 2009, St. Vincent-St. Mary submitted its “Progress Report II: Year 6” to both OCSAA and NCA/CASI detailing the progress that has been made on achieving the target goals established by the School Improvement Plan created in 2005 and implemented over the past four school years. The School Improvement Plan set two target goals for the improvement of student performance:

1. Catholic Identity Goal: Students will improve in their knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching and in their commitment to practice the Gospel value of justice.

2. Academic Goal: Students will improve in their mathematical skills across the curriculum.

The School Improvement Plan identified strategies, instructional activities, curriculum modifications, professional development for staff, personnel assignments, and even facility renovations, such as the creation of the Social Justice Center and the Math Lab, all of which have been implemented over the past four years. The Plan also mandated the use of locally-designed and standardized assessments to be used to track progress on the goals. Locally-designed assessments included school-wide rubrics and teacher created tests to assess student performance in the classroom as well as surveys of seniors, senior parents, teachers, and alumni (Class of 2005). Standardized measures of assessment included NCEA’s Assessment of Catechesis and Religious Education (ACRE), the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT), Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), PLAN Test (pre ACT), and the American College Test (ACT).

The following are highlights of the “Progress Report II: Year 6”

Catholic Identity Goal: Catholic Social Teaching and Justice

• Catholic Social Teaching integrated across the curriculum.
• Courses of study for 9th and 11 th grade religion programs revised to incorporate Catholic Social Teaching standards.
• Significant increase in student participation in school wide justice activities.
• Creation of Social Justice Center.
• Social justice projects required in junior year religion classes.
• Holocaust and genocide interdisciplinary project in freshmen religion and social studies classes.
• All teachers in-serviced in themes of Catholic Social Teaching and Catholic Church’s position on contemporary issues.
• Improvement of student knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching validated by ACRE assessment administered annually to juniors.
• Surveys of seniors, senior parents, and teachers overwhelmingly validate that students have improved in their knowledge of Catholic Social Teaching and in their commitment to practice the Gospel value of justice.

Academic Goal: Mathematical Skills

• Courses of study for mathematics revised to align with state standards.
• Courses of study for science revised to align with state standards.
• Courses of study for Plan for Success (Gr. 9) and Plan for the Future (Gr. 10) revised to provide more skill development in mathematics and science as well as test-taking skills for all standardized tests.
• Creation of Math Lab staffed by math teachers.
• Teachers in all disciplines in-serviced on teaching data literacy skills and “formula writing.”
• Data literacy lessons and assessments integrated across the curriculum.
• All students instructed in Microsoft Excel in science classes annually.
• 98 % of sophomores passing OGT 2008 test in mathematics on first attempt.
• Improvement of student mathematical skills validated by increase in mean scores for both sophomores and juniors on PSAT 2008 Test.
• Improvement of student mathematical skills validated by increase in mean scores for both mathematics and science reasoning on ACT 2008.
• Surveys of seniors, senior parents, and teachers overwhelmingly validate that students have improved in their mathematical skills and exhibit more confidence in mathematics.