MCS earns full 5-year accreditation with AdvancED

Mount Carmel School was informed recently that it had earned a full five-year accreditation term without a mid-term visit from AdvancED with the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.  The term is the longest term possible granted by the accrediting body.

The accreditation term was awarded based on the recommendations of an evaluation team that visited the school in March. 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. 

Mount Carmel School’s faculty poses with AdvancED Accreditation External Evaluation Team, led by Leonard D. Paul, vice president for AdvancED’s Northwest Region, front center. (Contributed Photo)

In their review report, the evaluation team wrote: “Mount Carmel School is an effective school by many measures. …The energy and attention to improving instructional practices and the charismatic leadership of the president and the loyalty of the assistant principal have fostered a strong support from teachers and other stakeholders, enabling the opportunity to engage in a deliberate school wide improvement process.”

In particular, the accreditation evaluation team recognized the “pride and love” that students expressed for their school. As the team noted in its report, “The reasons [students] gave were the feeling of home and family at the school. They feel like every adult cares about them as individuals, and not just as a student.”

As part of the continuous quality improvement model of accreditation, the evaluation team also recommended the school grow in a number of areas. Specifically, the team recommended that the school develop a long-term strategic plan, continue improving instructional quality, use data analysis to improve student learning, and revisit its curriculum.

School president Galvin Deleon Guerrero was very happy with the news. “These findings from AdvancED not only validate all the great things happening at our school, but they will help us improve upon the solid foundation we have laid at our island’s only Catholic school.”

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)