By robin shannon

L’Observateur

RESERVE – The St. John the Baptist Parish School system announced recently that both East St. John High School and West St. John High School have earned continuing national accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Council on Accreditation and School Improvement.

St. John School System Superintendant Dr. Courtney Millet said the reaccreditation, which is assessed every five years, was awarded in January during a meeting in Georgia with SACS parent organization AdvancED, an education group that serves more than 27,000 public and private schools and school districts in 69 countries.

Millet said SACS requires schools to meet high standards of conduct and performance to attain and maintain accreditation. The process involves evaluations by faculty and other staff on seven standards for quality schools set forth by the council. Those standards include vision and purpose, governance and leadership, teaching and learning, documenting and using results, resource and support systems, stakeholder communications and relationships and commitment to continuous improvement. Both schools had earned accreditation in 2007.

“Accreditation demonstrates to our students, parents and community that we are focused on raising student achievement, providing a safe and enriching learning environment and maintaining an efficient and effective operation staffed by highly qualified educators,” Millet said. “Teachers and faculty spent a year self evaluating within the schools, examining their practices to ensure standards were being met.”

Millet also noted that SACS accreditation is recognized across state lines, which not only eases the transfer process as students move from accredited school to accredited school, but also assures parents that their child’s school is meeting nationally accepted standards for quality and successful professional practice. St. Joan of Arc School in LaPlace and Garyville/Mt. Airy Math and Science Magnet are two other schools in the region to recently earn reaccreditation through SACS. Dr. Mark Elgart, president and CEO of AdvancED, said the SACS accreditation is a rigorous process that focuses the entire school on the primary goal of creating lifelong learners.

Millet encouraged parents and interested community members to learn more about high school accreditation at www.advanc-ed.org.