AdvancED team concludes accreditation visit at MCS

The AdvancED team met with members of the Mount Carmel School’s board of directors. From left to right, MCS board member Joe Pangelinan; AdvancED team members Paulette Sablan, Leila Staffler, and Leonard Paul; and MCS board chair Joe Taijeron. (Contributed Photo)

This week, an external evaluation team for AdvancED completed its visit at Mount Carmel School as part of the school’s accreditation process with the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. The evaluation team commended the school’s leadership for its drive and spirit and validated the school’s commitment to developing a strategic master plan that will guide the school’s growth in the next three to five years. Mount Carmel School is the first private school in the region to earn accreditation from the renowned accrediting agency.

Preparations for the team’s visit began earlier this school year as faculty, staff, and administrators drafted the school’s accreditation report. The effort was led by accreditation co-chairs Bobby Baldazo, vice principal for curriculum and instruction, and Tobed Smith, school counselor. The final report was submitted to the team in February, which laid out the school’s efforts to meet AdvancED accreditation standards.

AdvancED team member Leila Staffler meets with a group of students during lunch to learn more about Mount Carmel School. (Contributed Photo)

Led by Leonard D. Paul, vice president for AdvancED’s Northwest Region, the team included three administrative leaders from the CNMI Public School System: Naomi Nishimura, Paulette Sablan, and Leila Staffler. With their visit, the team focused on validating the report’s findings as well as learning more about the school. As part of the visit, the team held group meetings with faculty, staff, administrators, parent representatives, student representatives, the school’s leadership, and the school board. The team also conducted extensive classroom observations using AdvancED’s ELEOT tool, which focuses on student engagement and learning.

Frances Taimanao, the 2015 MCS Teacher of the Year, was very pleased with the visit. “Overall, I am confident about the visit and our progress,” said Taimanao. “I feel that the process or visit so far is very positive.” As a former school administrator and master teacher with decades of experience under her belt, Taimanao has participated in numerous accreditation visits.

School president Galvin Deleon Guerrero echoed Taimanao’s sentiments. “It is so reassuring for an external team to come in and recognize all the great things happening at our school,” he said. “And I especially appreciate the efforts of the team and AdvancED to shift the focus from a teacher-centric pedagogy to a more learner-centric pedagogy.”

According to its organizational overview, “AdvancED is the largest community of education professionals in the world.” AdvancED works with “32,000 schools and school systems—employing more than four million educators and enrolling more than 20 million students—across the United States and 70 other nations.” AdvancED was created through a 2006 merger of the PreK-12 divisions of the North Central Association and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools—and expanded through the addition of the Northwest Accreditation Commission in 2011. (MCS)