School Improvement and Accreditation Update - Parkview Baptist SchoolParkview Baptist School

Superintendent’s Blog

11/1/2014

Parkview Baptist is continuing to move forward with strategic changes that began two years ago. When I arrived at Parkview in January of 2013, we already had a strategic plan that was set to be completed in May 2015.

Within a few months, a survey was sent out to all parents and staff concerning their thoughts and impressions about Parkview. I held nine different parent nights to hear directly from parents. The data collected from the survey and the parent meetings told us that the perceptions on school improvement needs almost exactly matched the strategic plan we already had in place! I only needed to organize staff around the strategic plan to keep Parkview moving ahead on the right track.

The areas of concern that were identified in my initial meetings revolved around

Academics, Abundant Life, and Security. The goals in our strategic plan were centered around the areas of Academics, Abundant Life, and Improving the Campus. We can easily list a number of improvements centered around those goals that we have accomplished in the past two years. Our communications department is compiling all those results so we can communicate them to you at the end of the year. You will be amazed at the progress the school has made and it is very encouraging to me.

With our current strategic plan ending in May 2015, we are already starting to sketch out our next strategic plan. It will likely build upon the foundation of improvements we have already made in Abundant Life and Academics, because those two areas still top the list of parent concerns and truly embody the spirit of our school. Beautifying and improving the campus is also still important and will likely be an important goal that remains.

Our internal School Improvement Team meets monthly to keep progress on the goals of our School Improvement Plan and our Board level Long Range Planning Team also meets monthly to analyze and work on the goals of our strategic plan. Keeping our positive momentum going in these three areas seems logical. If we can update the goals in those areas and continue to build upon our foundation, we will continue on a great path.

We are also preparing our school for dual SAIS/Advanc-Ed accreditation renewal in the Spring of 2016. Part of that process will include another parent survey that will go out from our accrediting agency (SAIS) in early January. This is great timing because we can compare the results to our survey from the same time last year, and use them to dovetail into our new strategic plan. Accreditation is a lot of work, but our team of administrators and faculty members are enjoying working together to remain Parkview Strong.

Accreditation will be a long, but straightforward process. It will involve our updated Strategic plan, an in-depth self study, and the assurance that we meet and exceed accreditation standards across five major categories – Mission & Vision, Governance & Leadership, Teaching & Learning, Stakeholder Communication & Relationships, and Resources & Support Systems. We have already assigned a team of people to work on each category and our Self-Study meetings begin next week.

This will be my third time to bring a school through Accreditation. Ben Haindel, our High School Educational Advancement Specialist, is doing a wonderful job heading up the accreditation process. Ben came up with a great line during in-service that we often use among the staff…..Accreditation is the 5th “A!” (after Abundant Life, Academics, Arts and Athletics).

There is a sense of excitement and anticipation about what the Lord is going to do at Parkview as we go through this process. We just completed an intense day of training with our administrative team and at the end of our training day, Mrs. Martha Long, Director of Educational Operations, looked around the table and said, “I’ve never been so excited about going through accreditation in all my years at Parkview!”

We are ready to tackle this process in an organized and focused manner. School accreditation is not about the end result, but rather about having a meaningful school improvement process. I am really looking forward to it and especially to communicating results and progress to you, our Parkview family.

Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

PARKVIEW STRONG,

Don R. Mayes, Ed.D., Superintendent