MONROE - The Monroe Virtual School has earned the stamp of approval from two educational accrediting organizations.
The school now is accredited and meets the requirements of both the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITI) and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI).
The accreditation process focuses on seven standards that research shows impact students' learning, according to Virtual School Principal Cory Hirsbrunner.
Those standards require accredited schools to have a clear vision and purpose; have effective and responsive leadership; have a rigorous curriculum taught through sound, research-based methods; collect, report and use performance results; provide adequate resources and support for its educational programs; value and communicate with stakeholders; and have a commitment to continuously improve, Hirsbrunner said.
"Accreditation is about making the quest for excellence a habit; it's about being the best a school can be on behalf of the students it serves," she said.
To earn accreditation, schools must provide documentation they meet the criteria for each standard. Then the accrediting agency conducts an on-site review and interviews school board members, teachers, students and parents, Hirsbrunner said.
The process actually began near the end of last school year, under Dan Bauer, who served as principal at the school before his death last fall.
The accreditation can help the school stand out among other schools that a prospective student may be considering.
It's also an ongoing process. The accreditation is on a five-year cycle; agencies give schools recommendations for improvement and then revisit in five years to make sure standards still are being met.
The school will continue to adhere to the standards and use them as a tool for ongoing self-assessment. Staff will "use the standards to continually ask themselves, 'What more can we be doing to benefit our students?,'" Hirsbrunner said.
The Virtual School has an enrollment of just more than 400 students, up from about 300 at the beginning of the school year. As of Monday, 478 students were signed up for next year. That number could fluctuate, but likely will remain well above the 400-mark, Hirsbrunner said.
The school now is accredited and meets the requirements of both the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITI) and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI).
The accreditation process focuses on seven standards that research shows impact students' learning, according to Virtual School Principal Cory Hirsbrunner.
Those standards require accredited schools to have a clear vision and purpose; have effective and responsive leadership; have a rigorous curriculum taught through sound, research-based methods; collect, report and use performance results; provide adequate resources and support for its educational programs; value and communicate with stakeholders; and have a commitment to continuously improve, Hirsbrunner said.
"Accreditation is about making the quest for excellence a habit; it's about being the best a school can be on behalf of the students it serves," she said.
To earn accreditation, schools must provide documentation they meet the criteria for each standard. Then the accrediting agency conducts an on-site review and interviews school board members, teachers, students and parents, Hirsbrunner said.
The process actually began near the end of last school year, under Dan Bauer, who served as principal at the school before his death last fall.
The accreditation can help the school stand out among other schools that a prospective student may be considering.
It's also an ongoing process. The accreditation is on a five-year cycle; agencies give schools recommendations for improvement and then revisit in five years to make sure standards still are being met.
The school will continue to adhere to the standards and use them as a tool for ongoing self-assessment. Staff will "use the standards to continually ask themselves, 'What more can we be doing to benefit our students?,'" Hirsbrunner said.
The Virtual School has an enrollment of just more than 400 students, up from about 300 at the beginning of the school year. As of Monday, 478 students were signed up for next year. That number could fluctuate, but likely will remain well above the 400-mark, Hirsbrunner said.