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Every Six Years De La Salle’s Accreditation Study
ROOTED IN Improvement Every Six Years
School Endures Lengthy Accreditation Self-Study
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For the past 18 months, De La Salle and its faculty and staff, led by Dr. Elizabeth Berkes, Director of Faculty Development, and Ms. Lillian Dickson, Director of Academic Services, prepared for its once-everysix-years Western Catholic Education Association (WCEA) accreditation review. The process culminated on February 16th, after a four-day visit by the WCEA Visiting Team comprised of six private and public school educators from around Northern California.
What is the WCEA?
The WCEA is a private educational accrediting agency established under the auspices of the Bishops of the Catholic Dioceses of California. Accreditation verifies the quality of a school’s overall educational program. There are two dimensions to accreditation in the WCEA context: 1) an internal or subjective dimension and 2) an external or objective dimension. The internal dimension has to do with the school examining itself so as to see and declare what it does well and what it needs to improve. The external dimension of accreditation in the WCEA context has to do with an outside body verifying the Catholic educational quality of the school experience. De La Salle went through its last accreditation process during the 2015-16 school year.
Pictured is the Accreditation Team that visited De La Salle High School in February. The picture of J. D. Childs, Jim Jordan (Visiting Team Chair), Terese Ghilarducci, Kristin Hannon, Jennifer Reinwald, and Judee Sani was taken in the school’s chapel on the first day of the visit.
“The E3 process is very rigorous for a school community because it involves the gathering of multiple years of data from all stakeholders. I’m incredibly proud of the way the administration, faculty, and staff approached the mountain of data – fearlessly, in the words of the Chair of the Visiting Team. There were many months of hard conversations and difficult decision-making that I know will truly benefit the students entrusted to our care. I couldn’t be more excited for the future of our school.“
“The WCEA process was rewarding because it validated my belief that De La Salle truly is a special place AND it also challenged us to become even better. I look forward to seeing our Educational Improvement Plan come to fruition over the next few years because it will have a significant impact on faculty, staff, students, and families. The process was inclusive because everyone had a seat at the table—our entire community had an opportunity to contribute to the process.“
Spencer Shivley, Chair, Science Department
To understand the impact of what the accreditation process means to the school, and the priorities derived from the study, one has to look no further than the Learning Center, which was completed in 2018. After the last accreditation assessment in 2016, it was determined that the area of academic student support was not sufficient to assist De La Salle’s 1,050 students and the school did not have adequate facilities to serve these students. Over the next few years, De La Salle not only added two full-time staff positions but also allocated budgeted funds, as well as fundraised dollars, to complete a new Learning Center. These changes have had an immeasurable impact on hundreds of students these past three years.
The Process
Over the past year and a half, the school community used a variety of surveys and discussion groups to reflect on its policies, programs, and structures using the Ensuring Educational Excellence (E3) criteria-based protocol. Over that time, De La Salle’s self-study determined that Instructional Time Management (class schedules), strategic additions of school leadership, faculty compensation, and capital projects should be prioritized. Therefore, the school determined a systematic assessment of the following areas is needed:
• Lasallian Catholic Identity • Organization Efficacy • Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction • Co-curricular Programs • Responsible Stewardship of the School’s Material Resources
Following the E3 guidelines, research began and thousands and thousands of data points were collected. Teams of faculty and staff members then served on sub-committees (Integral Groups) based on the E3 Principle areas. And then, the hard questions were asked:
• How does De La Salle High School become truly exceptional? • How does De La Salle continue to show love, care, and compassion for our students?
Once the school administration, faculty, and staff completed the review of data in all areas, and areas of strength and growth were identified, the process of developing a school-wide Educational Improvement Plan commenced. Four areas of Vital Growth were chosen after extensive discussions, presentations, and a rank choice poll of all employees.
• Review of faculty compensation and administrative structure • Evaluation of post-pandemic time use across an expanded curriculum • Facilities upgrade • Expanded student support
While other areas of growth were identified by particular offices, programs, and departments, the four Vital Growth Areas will receive priority attention from the school and outside monitoring by WCEA of the stated improvement goals.
Initial Findings & the Future
During the four-day review, the committee visited classrooms, held interviews with school community members, including the administration, faculty, staff, and students, and reviewed the underlying data that guided the school’s self-study process.
The initial reporting back from the Accreditation Team was positive, and through the process, descriptors such as “authentic”, “fearless”, “inclusive”, and “focused” were conveyed by the Accreditation Team to the De La Salle faculty and staff in the final meeting on Wednesday, February 16.
School leadership is excited about the potential impact, as the report not only confirms the instruction and care currently provided on campus, but also, will help inform the school’s priorities, direction, and decisions for years to come.
“The report affirmed that what we do exceptionally well at De La Salle is the climate of care that we give to our students, which is very important given that boys are relational learners. Additionally, the process allowed every member of this community to continue to be a community of learners and seekers in the service of providing the best Catholic education we can to our students. We welcomed this process with open arms and listening hearts because our students deserve our best.“
Dr. Heather Alumbaugh, Vice President for Academic Life
