SACS REPORT

STANDARD: The school establishes and communicates a shared purpose and direction for improving the performance of students and the effectiveness of the school.

1. What is the process for establishing and building understanding of and commitment to the vision statement among the stakeholders?

Upon his arrival three years ago, the Headmaster initiated a general vision for school improvement goals.  Through subsequent discussion at all levels of the school (Board, Faculty, Parents, and Students), a consensus emerged for our vision statement.  This vision statement has gained the approval of all constituencies through stated communicated meetings during the 2007-08 school year.  Its wide distribution in oral and written school communication serves to unite, guide, and direct the energies of all stakeholders in order to move the school forward.  Regular discussions and communications among stakeholders ensure that the commitment to the vision statement remains a guiding force towards school improvement.

2. What is the school’s process for developing a profile and systematically maintaining and using information that describes the school, its students, and their performance?

As a college preparatory school, the vision and purpose of our school is embedded in our curriculum.  Our students come to us because they wish to be enrolled in a rigorous course of study in preparation for the next level of formal education.  Our admission process assures that an appropriate match exists between student desire and academic ability.  Each autumn the AdvancED coordinator and the college counselor meet to disaggregate the various criteria of our profile and then to create a document that succinctly summarizes who we are and whom we serve.  Performance measures are clearly stated by citing average class performance levels on major standardized tests.  Additional detailed information is available upon request by any stakeholder or potential stakeholder.

3. How does the leadership ensure that the school’s vision, purpose, and goals guide the teaching and learning process?

The administration allows teacher autonomy in each classroom.  While the Headmaster oversees and assures a sequential and orderly teaching and learning process through the use of curriculum mapping and updated curriculum guides, teachers are encouraged by the administration to be “their own boss” and to develop as efficacious educators.  Teachers are provided with resources to inform themselves of best practices and current developments through staff development (both on and off campus), the purchase of new materials, technology acquisition and training, Power School, and curriculum mapping.  The administration seeks only highly qualified individuals when vacancies occur.  At weekly staff and faculty meetings, dialogue builds bridges between all stakeholders.  The sharing of collegial activities further guides the teaching and learning process by allowing information to be exchanged directly between teachers.  The transparency in the school’s administration allows stakeholders to innovate with confidence in their continual efforts to further teaching and learning.  The administrative “hands on” follow-through assures that “balls are not dropped,” and the business of learning is not impeded or fragmented through the unnecessary waste of energy and effort in non-educative pursuits.   

4. What process is used to ensure that the vision and purpose of the school remain current and aligned with the school’s expectation of student learning and school effectiveness?

Monthly all-school meetings, known as SACS Mondays, assure that as data are received they are disaggregated and discussed.  From these discussions come additional strategies and further discussion, if needed.  Faculty members monitor the Action Plan and report to divisional heads on their progress.  The vision and purpose of the school are thereby in constant alignment with our school’s expectation of student learning as well as faculty and school efficacy.

STANDARD: The school provides governance and leadership that promotes student performance and school effectiveness.

1. What is the process for establishing, communicating, and implementing policies and procedures for the effective operation of the school?

Wayne Country Day School is an independent school governed by an eighteen member self-perpetuating Board of Trustees.  The Board hires the Headmaster, in whose hands the operation of the school is entrusted.  The Headmaster is charged with maintaining compliance with all regulations from both the North Carolina State Department of Non-Public Instruction as well as North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction.  Additional compliance with all laws and regulations regarding Health and Safety with various other state and local agencies is effected by the Headmaster.  WCDS subscribes to the principles and governances outlined by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) as well as maintaining membership in the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools (NCAIS).  The Board oversees the management of the school at its regular meetings and through Headmaster reports submitted each month to the Board.  All policies and procedures germane to each of the respective stakeholders is reviewed, published, and distributed annually to each stakeholder: Board Handbook, Faculty Handbook, Parent and Student Handbook, Athletic Handbook, Emergency Procedures Handbook.   Through regular meetings, stakeholders discuss, suggest, and amend policies and procedures on an on-going basis.  These various vehicles also serve to communicate policies and procedures which enhance the effective operation of the school.  Implementation is accomplished by the responsible parties involved with the specific policy or procedure through explicit empowerment of written job descriptions or by oral communication from the Headmaster.

2. What process does the school’s leadership use to evaluate school effectiveness and student performance?

Wayne Country Day School uses traditional and differentiated instruction guided by best practices in its teaching and learning.  A variety of techniques is used by teachers who are offered both on and off campus staff development to enhance their skills, their educational goals, and their own personal aspirations for student learning.  Teachers are provided with a variety of data for feedback, reflection, and self-assessment.  A number of artifacts are used to substantiate efficacy: student, parent, and recent alumni  surveys (i.e., How are we doing?, How do you feel we are doing?); re-enrollment percentages; careful, deliberate analysis of standardized test data (ITBS, SAT 1, SAT 2, ACT, AP) by the School Improvement Team and communicated to all faculty and parents; portfolios (academic and artistic); standardized English essays for mid-term and final exams (graded by the English Department and reviewed by the whole faculty); self-reflective curriculum mapping with global portals; the Headmaster’s direct daily observations; and job descriptions.

3. In what ways are stakeholders, including staff, given opportunities to provide leadership and to contribute to the decision-making process?

Teachers possess a great deal of autonomy in their classrooms.  In this sense, our teachers, a priori, are leaders and their own bosses.  They are freed from unnecessary mandates or influences that interfere with the discourse between student and teacher.  Four divisions of the school (Pre School, Lower School, Intermediate School, and High School) have formal leadership positions (teaching division heads) and seven school-wide teaching departmental chairs supervise curricula in their particular domain.  Other All-School positions (Athletic Director who teaches, SACS coordinator who teaches, Curriculum Mapper who teaches, and Media Specialist who teaches) form a cadre who assume a wide variety of leadership roles and exert decision-making in their various capacities; some examples are: textbook selection, staff development, scheduling, elective course offerings.  All teachers make decisions regarding our school improvement plan through the AdvancED process and within departmental and divisional meetings.  Further, teachers implement specific prescriptions effecting continuous improvements and positive changes within the school environment.
The School Improvement Team (SIT), composed of teachers and administrators, represents one-third of the total employee population. The SIT exercises its decision-making in concert with the Parent Association, the Student Government, and the Faculty in framing action plans and recommendations for permanent improvement projects to the Board of Trustees.     

4. What policies and processes are in place to ensure equity of learning opportunities and support for innovation?

At the beginning of each year, teachers are given two documents to complete: one for their personal professional development; one for reflection/evaluation.  At the conclusion of the year, each teacher may bring these completed documents to contract talks with the Headmaster.  During this review, teacher efficacy, goals-setting, decision-making, and a general year synopsis are discussed.  From this discussion come suggestions for professional growth and improvement.  Such suggestions include the teacher’s participation in staff development in off-campus seminars, workshops, and classes; travel to and enrollment in target world language and culture enrichment programs; initial state licensure or renewal; university work for advanced degrees.  This process allows the teacher to engage in the acquisition of best practices and the creating of innovative pedagogical practices.  In turn, the teacher is better able to provide a learning environment that is both just and equitable for all students. 
In addition to small class sizes which maximize the student’s ability to learn, additional opportunities are offered:  a daily scheduled afterschool tutorial period, the math lab, a counseling and advisory program, and AP Saturdays.  Students with learning differences are offered support through accommodations and learning plans designed and implemented with the faculty, parents, and student.  For students who require additional services beyond these accommodations, an onsite professionally staffed and certificated learning center (Southridge) is available.   
At all levels, the sharing of ideas amongst faculty is encouraged and celebrated.  Extramurally, teachers are offered opportunities and support to write Bright Idea and Chamber of Commerce grants which afford them the chance to design and implement original concepts and innovative practices in their classrooms.  While the grants are used to enhance the learning opportunities for our students, they also showcase teacher excellence and allow the larger community to celebrate and reward innovative practices and pedagogy.

STANDARD: The school provides research-based curriculum and instructional methods that facilitate achievement for all students.

1. How does the school ensure that the curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessments are aligned and articulated across grade levels in support of the expectations for student learning?

The curriculum at Wayne Country Day is based on clearly-defined expectations for student learning, including student-centered essential knowledge and skills that are developed, articulated, and coordinated within school-wide, well-developed scope and sequence documents that complement curriculum mapping.  Our school vision, which states our philosophy and commitment to high expectations for student learning, establishes our educational beliefs: “Every person a teacher; every corner a classroom; every experience a lesson; every student our focus.”  Further, WCDS establishes expectations in support of student engagement in the learning process, including opportunities for students to explore the application of higher order thinking skills and to investigate new approaches to apply to their learning: Fourteen AP classes taught by certificated instructors; the Big 6 research model that fosters a metacognative approach to learning in grades 1-8; and intramural academic activities such as Brain Game, County/State Essay Contests, Regional/State Mathematics Contests that provide opportunities for students to transpose learning into viable competition products in local, state, and national venues.  

2. In what ways does the school ensure the implementation of research-based instructional strategies, innovations, and activities that facilitate achievement for all students?

Staff development, most especially in teacher acquisition of certification and advanced degrees, as well as certifications in AP courses and AdvancEd are examples of how our school ensures that school-wide curricular and instructional decisions are based on data and research at all levels.  The implementation of a computer for each teacher’s use and the professional development exercises demonstrating the access to rich educational data bases (AERA, for example) allow faculty to peruse educational literature as well as the trends and ideas that are breaking in current educational thought.  Staff development on and off campus is carefully selected to ensure that information and materials will support our educational vision and be valid for teaching and learning as well.  Programs such as Curriculum Mapper support curriculum instruction that is research based and demonstrates a best practice and requires rich reflection.  Teachers are encouraged to include innovative ideas within their maps.  Very often these ideas serve as a springboard for more in-depth, expansive original programs.  Corporate grants from within the county and the region are another way teachers are afforded the opportunity to showcase and fund their innovative ideas and practices.  The Headmaster is fully supportive of tireless efforts on the part of the faculty to see lessons and ideas funded.  These grant opportunities, undergirded by a strong curriculum, serve as an example of our faculty’s conviction that opportunities such as these provide a true reflection of school-wide support for the implementation of research-based instructional strategies and activities with student success as the ultimate goal. 

3. What processes are implemented to ensure that teachers are well-prepared and effectively implementing the curriculum?

All teachers must be “highly qualified” in order to be employed by Wayne Country Day.  That is, a teacher must have completed his or her undergraduate major in the area in which he or she is teaching.  Certificated teachers are expected to renew their licensure, and non-certificated teachers are required to become certificated within five years, or to acquire a master’s degree within five years.  All teachers must keep an updated professional development plan, and they are expected to use the self-reflective evaluation instrument on an annual basis.  New teachers (whether new to teaching or new to WCDS) are assigned a veteran WCDS teacher, who serves as a personal and professional mentor.  The mentor/mentored partnership meets on a regular basis for reflection and analysis.  Division heads are included in discussions regarding the curriculum, its implementation, and student progress. Communication between all levels of schooling is vital if maintaining and supporting student performance is to be achieved. Open dialogue and the establishment of common ideals ensures student readiness for future schooling or employment.  The school college counselor is seen as a major link in this process.  The guidance counselor can suggest the implementation of interventions to help students meet expectations for student learning.  A strong support system requires group articulation of problems, but more importantly, group support of the resolutions/solutions that evolve from communication. Student achievement levels and goals are best maintained within a system-wide climate that supports student learning. Curriculum standards and goals must be reviewed and revised at regular intervals. Instructional technology, media services, and materials needed for effective instruction are valued and implemented in support of student learning.  The advisor-advisee system, in place at WCDS, provides educators, administration, students, and parents a ready reference/contact when student learning is in jeopardy or declining.  With this system of student support, conferences are scheduled quickly to assure the student is redirected with minimally lost time. 

4.  How does the system ensure that all students and staff have access to comprehensive information, instructional technology, and media services?
Wayne Country Day supports a curriculum that challenges and meets the needs of each student, reflects a commitment to equity, welcomes cultural change and diversity, and allocates and supports instructional time to student learning.  Scheduling, portable learning carts, a computer bank in the media center, a well provisioned and growing reference center, steadily increased number of and use of LCD projectors in classrooms, and digitalized products expand the exposure of instructional technology for both teacher and student.  Annual college trips to various regions throughout the United States and individualized counseling offer a student the ability to develop a broad range of choices and opportunities for tertiary education.  Student and parent access to Power School allows daily feedback on progress and grades, which can (and frequently does) open a dialogue that is ultimately timely and beneficial to the student.  Regular progress reports and Headmaster/division head newsletters offer another dimension in communication to all stakeholders.  Our media specialist is available upon request and teaches in all divisions with age-appropriate instruction regarding the access, use, and application of media services.  Equally, our media specialist eagerly embraces her role as an auxiliary instructor who serves as a supplementary resource—for both teachers and students— building upon the activities and assignments in a classroom.

STANDARD: The school enacts a comprehensive assessment system that monitors and documents performance and uses these results to improve student performance and school effectiveness.

1.  How is the assessment system currently used in your school to analyze changes in student performance?
Wayne Country Day uses multiple, age-appropriate standardized tests in establishing performance measures for student learning that yield information that is reliable, valid, and bias free.  Test results are used to chart positive and negative changes in student performance.  The focus becomes maintaining positive changes while developing strategies within the Action Plan to improve weaker areas of performance.  Grades 1-8 complete the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS); the 8th grade students are administered the ACT’s Explore in the fall of that year; and the 10th grade students are given the ACT’s PLAN in addition to the PSAT.  All high school students sit for advanced tests such as the ACT and SAT 1 and SAT 2 along with AP exams to monitor student performance.  Data from the various standardized tests are cross-referenced in an effort to substantiate and evaluate student performance continuously.   It is through the administering and analyzing of data acquired through objective assessments that WCDS develops and implements a comprehensive assessment system for assessing progress toward meeting the expectations for student learning. Individual as well as grade level composite scores are extremely beneficial in maintaining and developing curricular standards and expectations on a year-to-year, student-to-student basis.  Further, WCDS uses student assessment data in making decisions for continuous improvement of the teaching and learning processes as well as in developing flexible, needs-appropriate scheduling of classes school-wide.  While group trends are important, it is the individual scores that help WCDS personalize instruction and evaluate the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction.

2. What are you doing to ensure that assessment results are timely, relevant, and communicated in a way that can be used by teachers, students, parents, and external stakeholders to aid the performance of individual students?
In 2006, WCDS stopped using the ERB (Educational Records Bureau) achievement tests for Lower and Intermediate School students, and adopted the ITBS.  This change was precipitated in no small way because both parents and faculty were not using the data provided by the ERB.  In surveying both groups, a consistent complaint surfaced: the data were too esoterically presented and unhelpful in measuring and monitoring student achievement.  With the adoption of the ITBS, we have been able to address a significant parent concern, and we have been able to have parents become involved with comprehensible data that can be used in conjunction with the school.  Additionally, the ITBS is a familiar and more nationally recognized and accepted instrument in helping external stakeholders understand student performance.  Since that time, yearly school assessments are conducted and then disaggregated within an analytical system designed to measure student performance as well as instructional and organizational effectiveness. The assessment system yields timely and accurate information that is meaningful and useful to school leaders, teachers, students, and other stakeholders in understanding student performance, school effectiveness, and the results of improvement efforts outlined in the Action Plan. Results gleaned from test data are used to plan for improved student performance and in the continuous crafting of the school Action Plan. The Action Plan is seen as the blueprint of school improvement.  Stakeholder support and input is valued as they share a vested interest in school-wide student performance and achievement.  Various methods are utilized to ensure that results are communicated to all stakeholders.  Individual and confidential conferencing with individual parents and students is the first step in aiding the performance of individual students. Conferencing serves a dual purpose--parents can use this time to offer feedback and suggestions for student and school improvement. The examination of group trends helps to establish a broad picture of school performance. Test data drives student-centered school improvement and planning. Identifying problem areas is the business of any self-study.  The Action Plan is designed to offer all stakeholders a reliable, proactive plan for school performance improvement and is adjusted as shifts in data and demographics occur.

3. How are data used to understand and improve overall school effectiveness?

The Curriculum Mapper program utilized by all instructors is a school-wide initiative that charts the scope and sequence of the curriculum for individual disciplines and grade levels.  One feature of this program that helps teachers and administrators understand and improve overall school effectiveness is through the global portals that connect WCDS to schools across the country.  Through global searches, student performance from comparable schools is analyzed and used to understand our trend data of student performance.  In turn, decisions are made regarding our school efficacy in teaching and learning.  Through state monitored websites, WCDS can construct multiple year SAT performance comparisons on national, state, and local school data.  Through the graphing and constructing of these comparison models, WCDS demonstrates verifiable growth in student performance that is at or above national, state, and local levels. All student data is maintained and housed in a secure, accurate, and complete student record system in accordance with state and federal regulations.

4. How are teachers trained to understand and use data in the classroom?

Through participation in the AdvancED process, teachers have examined and reviewed various testing data gathered from standardized tests.  Constructing and presenting various visual data models guides teachers in the analysis of statistics.  Comparison of trends and student performance offers teachers a bigger picture of the relativity of testing data as a useful tool for classroom use and the teachers’ decisions regarding the budgeting of academic time and effort across the spectrum of various academic domains.  Visual representation of classroom and student performance over a three-year period aids in the tracking and identifying of areas needing improvement.  Data are invaluable sources of explanation and intervention with individual students as well as all spectrums of student performance and achievement.  The guidance counselor is seen as a source of information and connection to programs/services that address individual and group needs.  Academic interventions are successful because our teachers are trained in classroom data use and see it as an opportunity to improve student achievement attitudes as well as classroom instruction.    

STANDARD: The school has the resources and services necessary to support its vision and purpose and to ensure achievement for all students.

1. What is the process for recruitment, induction, placement, development, evaluation, and retention of qualified teachers, administrators, and support staff?

Wayne Country Day actively recruits, employs, and mentors qualified professional staff members who are capable of fulfilling assigned roles and responsibilities.  At the beginning of each year, teachers are given two documents to complete: one for their personal professional development; one for reflection/evaluation.  At the conclusion of the year, each teacher may bring these completed documents to contract talks with the Headmaster.  During this review, teacher efficacy, goals-setting, decision-making, and a general year review is discussed.  From this discussion come suggestions for professional growth and improvement.  Throughout the school year, the headmaster seeks open dialogue with all staff as a first response to retention.  Through an independent school database and application files, the headmaster has access to the resumes and portfolios of potential candidates to fill any vacancy. Contract talks begin in late winter for the upcoming school year. This process assures the retention of qualified staff while maintaining an uninterrupted learning environment that maintains individual and school effectiveness.   Great care is given in assigning professional staff responsibilities based on their qualifications: professional preparation, ability, knowledge, and experience.  An important source of teacher preparedness, effectiveness, and retention is a continuous program of professional development.  Using the school Action Plan and teacher evaluations as a guide for needed improvement, teachers engage in on and off campus staff development that seeks to hone personal skills while addressing improved student performance and achievement.  The Headmaster is in the process of completing a doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that supports his development as an administrator.

2. How does the leadership ensure that the allocation of financial resources is supportive of the school’s vision, educational programs, and its plans for school improvement?

In the winter preceding the particular academic year, the headmaster and business officer submit a budget proposal to the Board of Trustees for tentative approval.  As an independent school tuition, supplemented by fundraising, annual appeal, and endowment income provide the necessary funds in order to balance the school budget each year.  These funds are spent in a strict alignment of the school’s vision, mission and purpose.  At the conclusion of each academic year, faculty, parents, and students are solicited for their desires and wishes for school improvements, educational programming augmentation, and facility enhancements.  Based upon suggestions and direct input, the administration composes a prioritized “wish list” for the Board; approval is given in the event of surplus funds.  In this way, the necessary programs are realized through general budgeting, and supplementary programs are expanded as funds become available.  Teachers are encouraged and trained to write grant proposals to fund their own innovative ideas in addition to the school’s funding.  A special interest is to keep currency in our Action Plan. We pay especial attention and fund areas that have been identified in the Action Plan as needing more resources.

3. How does the leadership ensure a safe and orderly environment for students and staff?

The school is in full compliance with all local, state, and federal laws, standards, and regulations regarding safety and welfare of everyone in the school.  The school develops and regulates a written security and crisis management plan with appropriate training for all stakeholders.  This plan is regularly reviewed and practiced.  The installation in 2007 of a new telephone system with intercom as well as a top-of-the-line fire detection and alarm system assures safety and orderliness in the event of a crisis or emergency.  Monthly fire drills and tornado awareness keep the school is a constant state of preparedness.  Regular inspections by state and local authorities provide guidance and support to ensure that our procedures are in line with best practices.  Seniors are required to be certified in CPR as well as First Aid, and most faculty are certificated in these areas as well.  The school leadership believes strongly and explicitly states publicly that all teachers and students are responsible for monitoring and supervising movement and conditions conducive to a safe and orderly school.  

4. What process is used to ensure and monitor that each student has access to guidance and resource services that meet the needs of the student?

Wayne Country Day ensures that each student and staff member has access to guidance services that include, but are not limited to, counseling, appraisal, mentoring, staff consulting, referral, and educational and career planning.  Younger students are monitored by parents and teachers.  Older students are encouraged to first conference with their advisor and whenever possible engage their advisor in the accessing of guidance services.  Direct access is available through appointments with the school guidance and college counselors.  Teachers, parents, and counselors utilize test performance patterns and results as an indicator of special student needs and in seeking appropriate support services. 

STANDARD: The school fosters effective communication and relationships with and among its stakeholders.

1. How does the school’s leadership ensure that the school is responsive to community expectations and stakeholder satisfaction?

The school has both formal and informal channels in which to gather and respond to community expectations and stakeholder satisfaction.  Community expectations are regularly solicited through biannual surveys of various populations within the community.  These surveys help to establish and clarify expectations.  In turn, the administration seeks to clarify and state expectations with measurable standards to ensure objectivity.  Monthly meetings with the Parents Association provide another venue for communication and dialogue.  Weekly faculty meetings allow teachers to communicate and delineate their expectations.  All stakeholders are encouraged to visit and communicate with the Headmaster in an “open door” policy to his office.  The faculty fosters collaboration with community stakeholders to support student learning, realizing their involvement and understanding of the workings of the school as crucial to school success.  Examples of this collaboration are: minicourses taught by members of the larger community; guest lecturers or participants on topics of especial interest or expertise; artists/professionals/experts working with students in either one-day or short-term projects.  The headmaster leads the school community by example and through deliberately planned opportunities/occasions for informal stakeholder interaction.  Annual and detailed attrition statistics are kept by the Admission Office and are used as vital information in assessing stakeholder satisfaction.  Detailed exit surveys are conducted by the school with those families/students who express disappointment or dissatisfaction with the program.

2. How does the school’s leadership foster a learning community?

All stakeholders in the school understand and provide a respectful and safe environment that allows and celebrates each individual as a person and as a learner.  Through explicitly stated expectations and modeling, the Headmaster, the faculty, and the student government establish and foster continual renewal of this environment.   A highly qualified and professional faculty provides students with the skills, knowledge, and opportunities that allow them to interact with each other and learn to value not only the attainment of “capital K” knowledge but also the attainment of the skills and maturity to value other ways of thinking and achieving.  By weaving the values of a community, which prizes and respects differences as well as success in all of its various forms, into a core value of our school  the school’s leadership ensures that each individual can contribute and become a full member of the community.    Ultimately, this learning community fosters students who as a rule go beyond their perceived level of ability by participating in a rigorous curriculum that solicits the knowledge and skills of stakeholders to enhance the work of the school.

3.  What avenues are used to communicate information to stakeholders about students, their performance, and school effectiveness?

Consistent with the philosophy of transparency in the school’s functioning, the administration seeks from the onset of student admission to inform, engage, and partner with stakeholders.  Stakeholder involvement is valued by the school and is seen as an essential part of distributed leadership.  In the summer before each year, the enrollment package contains essential information which communicates the expectations for student learning and goals.  The annual Open House provides a venue to inform all stakeholders of the various avenues used by the school for communication.  Through formal solicitation of the school’s stakeholders, the school has been able to glean what information about students, their performance, and school effectiveness is desired, meaningful, and useful to stakeholders.  These avenues include the following: the school’s website; regular direct communication through “Friday Folders” in the Pre School and Lower School; Power School/Power Grade; the use of the new phone/voicemail system; advisor-advisee system; monthly progress reports; quarterly report cards; regular newsletters from Headmaster and/or divisional head; parent-student-teacher conferences, both scheduled and impromptu.  As soon as test data are received, meetings are scheduled with the various stakeholders to explain and review both the individual’s results as well as the composite results.  These data are added to archived data to substantiate the school’s efficacy for stakeholder consideration.  Annually, the school solicits from its stakeholders what changes are needed to improve communication and ensure the best possible communication.

STANDARD: The school establishes, implements, and monitors a continuous process of improvement that focuses on student performance.

1. What is the process for continuous improvement used by the school and what are the results that this process is delivering for student performance and school effectiveness?

Wayne Country Day implements a collaborative and ongoing process for improvement that aligns the functions of the school with the expectations for student learning.  WCDS engages in a continuous process of improvement that articulates the vision and purpose the school is pursuing; it maintains a rich and current description of students, their performance, school effectiveness, and the school community within an updated stakeholder/student performance profile; it employs goals and interventions to improve student performance within an ongoing/current Action Plan; and the school documents and uses the results to inform and plan for what happens next. Under an educational and instructional canopy that seeks to deliver timely, informed improvement to all stakeholders, Wayne Country Day remains progressive in the processes of continuous school improvement.

2. What steps are taken to ensure that the improvement goals reflect student learning needs that are aligned with the vision and purpose of the school?

Improvement efforts are sustained, and the school demonstrates progress in improving student performance and school effectiveness with a vision and purpose of the school that is aligned with student learning and achievement. Student learning needs become the focus with the vision/purpose of the school reflecting the school’s response and commitment to assuring those needs are addressed and met. The vision/purpose joins all stakeholders in the shared mission and unifying purpose of moving the school and its students forward.  Plans for continuous improvement work in tandem with the vision and purpose of the school and expectations for student learning.  Schools are built for students. Decisions are made with student needs and benefits guiding the planning and crafting of the school curriculum.

3. What process is used to ensure that the school personnel are provided professional development and technical assistance to implement interventions and achieve improvement goals?

Faculty and staff development is aligned with student needs.  Wayne Country Day provides professional development opportunities both on and off campus for school personnel to help them learn the implementation of improvement interventions to achieve improvement goals.  Working with administrators, and through regularly scheduled meetings throughout the year, teachers and other staff are informed and empowered regarding the strategies and interventions implemented through the school’s Action Plan as well as the curriculum guides and individual learning plans, when necessary.  Various staff are available to all teachers for technical assistance (i.e., Guidance Counselor, College Counselor, Technology Coordinator, Media Specialist).  

4. How does the leadership ensure that the improvement plan is implemented, monitored, achieved, and communicated to stakeholders?

The school’s leadership issues the school improvement plan annually at the initial meetings of various stakeholder groups.  Included at this meeting are annotations regarding the progress of strategies from the previous year/cycle.  Measurable data and stakeholder affect are blended with best practices to substantiate the progress and continual alignment of the Action Plan.  The leadership, in conjunction with the faculty, monitors and communicates the results of improvement efforts to stakeholders throughout the year.  Through the Action Plan, strategies are evaluated and documented as to their effectiveness and their impact on the continuous process of improvement.  New strategies emerge from careful study and reflective process.  Through shared leadership, faculty are empowered to offer solutions, strategies, and assessments toward the common goal of student achievement and school improvement.  As individual goals are met, the achievement of the goal is celebrated by all shareholders.

CONCLUSION

1. As you review your responses to the standards, what major trends, themes, or areas of focus emerge that cut across the seven standards?
Since the last visit, we note that staff qualifications have risen and professional development of staff has augmented.  There exists a deeper alignment between the energies and effort expended by the faculty in a clearly articulated Action Plan and the resultant outcome of student performance.  From limited technology access and training five years ago, technology access and use has grown immensely and now permeates every part of the school.  Faculty innovation and sharing of ideas have increased and are not only encouraged but celebrated as well.  A course of rigorous academics has been implemented, and there has been a measurable increase in commitment by the entire learning community to achieve all that one can. There has been an increase in stakeholder involvement in appropriate channels.  There is now a very stable environment, both in student enrollment and staff employment.   There are distributed leadership opportunities that exist for all stakeholders to serve the students and the school.

2. Based on your review of these cross-cutting themes, trends and each of the seven standards, what would you consider to be your school’s greatest strengths?  
A rigorous academic program tempered with personal commitment to do one’s very best by going beyond one’s perceived level of ability encourages students to strive to be one’s very best.  Juxtaposed with this academic rigor, our school retains a family-like atmosphere, offering emotional and intellectual support in an environment that provides safety, both physical and emotional.  With visionary leadership that engenders distributed leadership opportunities and “buy-in” among all stakeholders, the school has the necessary edifice to sustain a continual process of excellence in teaching and learning.

3. What would you consider to be your school’s greatest challenges?
We continue to change community perceptions regarding independent education in general and WCDS in particular.  Far from a bastion of privilege for a few, our school opens its door to become part of and a reflection of our larger community.  While virtually all of a decade’s worth of deferred maintenance has now been updated and fixed, our facility’s modernization, improvement, and expansion is a great challenge. The planning and execution of a capital campaign for this purpose is planned to begin within the next few months.  A constant challenge is to continue to provide significant pay raises and benefits so that we may retain and recruit the best faculty for our students.

4. How will you use the insights gained from this self-assessment to inform and enhance your quality assurance and continuous improvement efforts?
We have already implemented insights from this self-study.  Mistakenly, we thought that we were to be visited last year, and therefore, we completed most of the old version self-study.  The insights that we gleaned were used in the development of the Strategic Long Range Plan as well as the Strategic Long Range Financial Plan, both of which were promulgated by the Board in the Spring of 2008.  Through regular SACS Mondays, we have been able to focus our faculty in active data collection and disaggregation and to view these data and their interpretation as driving the Action Plan of the school; to assist them in the formulation of improvement initiatives to sustain them in our continuous improvement efforts.  By having a set of disinterested eyes to review our report, we hope to have our beliefs substantiated and to have another voice to help guide us in our efforts.