Montana Catholic Schools Weekly

WCEA Accreditation Visits Next Year

I spent most of last week chairing an accreditation visit to St. Mary’s School in Boise. I find accreditation visits tremendous professional growth opportunities as I learn the culture of another school. I highly recommend accreditation teams to teachers and administrators in order to learn how to become more effective. I find it especially valuable to visit a school that is completely unlike your own and here in Montana where our Catholic schools are all so different, that is very possible.

Next year is an important year for accreditation in our Catholic schools in Montana. We have eight schools scheduled for accreditation and thus we will need principals and teachers from all over our state to sign up for the teams to join our out-of-state chairs. For each visit, you will receive release from your duties and will get your travel, lodging, and meals paid for.

If your school is scheduled for accreditation in the near future, this is a great way to learn how accreditation visits work. If your school has recently completed accreditation, this is a great way to deepen your understanding of the accreditation process and share your knowledge. I believe every educator who is interested in accreditation should participate in one team per year.

For next year, here are our scheduled accreditation visits. Please consider joining a team.

· September 27-30: St. Matthew (Kalispell)

· Oct 4-7: Butte Central Elementary School (Butte)

· Oct 18-21: Pretty Eagle Catholic School (St. Xavier)

· Oct 25-28: Holy Spirit (Great Falls)

· March 6-9: Our Lady of Lourdes (Great Falls)

· March 13-16: St. Francis Elementary (Billings)

· April 3-6: Loyola Sacred Heart High School (Missoula)

· April 10-13: Sacred Heart (Miles City)

Dr. Tim Uhl, Superintendent