NCA
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) is the largest of six regional accrediting associations in the U.S. Accreditation provides a tool in which a community can measure its schools. It confirms that the school has the resources, the leadership, and the vitality for continuous improvement. Furthermore, it shows the public that the school is meeting expectations and fulfilling standards that are required by the state and federal governments.
Onekama School became NCA accredited in 1998. Since then, we have been working as a staff on the Transitions school improvement process chosen by the Onekama board of Education. The goal of this process is to ensure that every student is ready for his/her next level of education or work.
The biggest component of Transitions is our yearly credentialing process. Teams of teachers have set standards in academics, employability, and careers that students must meet to be credentialed at 3rd, 5th, 8th, and high school. Credentialing allows the staff to easily identify students that are not "making the grade" and focus in on their areas of weakness. Individual improvement plans are then designed for those students not credentialed. These plans may include interventions such as after school study hall, summer school, and Special Ed. Testing.
Middle School Committee
Middle School Committee
First, a committee of teachers created a school profile that included unique local insights, info. from former students, and existing school data (attendance, assessments, surveys…). Then we identified our goals for improvement, developed our plan from research, and educated our staff on the new strategies. For the last three years the staff have been using two new scool wide strategies in the classroom…writing across the curriculum (5 types of writing) and responsible thinking process (RTP).
Elementary Committee
Our staff meets monthly to work on our plan and monitor its effectiveness on student performance. Communication between teachers, students, and parents has improved during this on-going process. We are already collecting data that show our students are better writers and discipline referrals have decreased. More students each year are prepared for their next level of education. Plus, the staff has focused more on employability skills and career awareness by integrating them into the curriculum and school environment.
Elementary Committee