Middle States Re-Accreditation Process


The Academy of the Holy Cross has held accreditation by the Commission on Secondary Schools of the Middle States Association (MSA) of Colleges and Schools since 1930. Every seven to ten years AHC completes a re-accreditation process that includes an intensive self-study and an on-site three-day visit by a team of professional educators. AHC’s self-study process began last year involving all school constituencies and continued through the summer months and into the 2005-2006 school year. The MSA team visited Holy Cross March 14-16, 2006.
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The MSA process calls for a Planning Team composed of representatives from the school community. AHC’s 32-member team includes faculty, staff, current parents, alumnae, parents of alumnae, students and trustees. The team members will rotate various terms ensuring the continuity of constituency representatives. The Academy’s Internal Coordination Team, Mary Lynne Boss, Associate Head of School, and faculty members Peggy Durney, Sue Murphy and Debbie Stathes, lead the process.

Holy Cross chose to follow the Accreditation for Growth (AFG) format. A future oriented and visionary process, the AFG protocol provides for a continuous review of student programs and services and of the results of student performance. Three to five student-based performance objectives must be developed by the school. The planning team monitors the progress.

The Commission on Secondary Schools serves both public and non-public schools in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. As stated on the Commission on Secondary Schools website, “Accreditation is the affirmation that a school provides a quality of education that the community has a right to expect and the education world endorses. When the Commission on Secondary Schools accredits a school, it certifies that the school has met the prescribed qualitative standards of the Middle States Association within the terms of the school's own stated philosophy and objectives.” Put simply, the accreditation process is necessary to validate and improve the quality of education schools provide.