Marist High School Re-Accredited by the Middle States Association Commission on Secondary Schools

Pictured are Br. Steve Schlitte, Principal of Marist High School and Ms. Alice Miesnik, Asst. Principal proudly displaying the AFG re-accreditation certificate along with Mr. Robert Slaski, President of Marist High School, Br. Ralph Darmento, Deputy Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Newark and several Marist students.

The Middle States Association’s Commission on Secondary Schools has announced that Marist High School in Bayonne has been re-accredited for the period ending December 1, 2015.

The decision to re-accredit Marist High School was made following a three and one half day visit to the school in February, 2008 by a visiting team of educators from member schools of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools appointed by the Commission of Secondary Schools.

During the visit, the Middle States team met with and interviewed representatives of the school’s stakeholders, including teachers, students, parents, and administrators, as well as representatives of the Marist Directory and Board of Trustees. Team members also toured the school’s facilities, studied the school’s strategic plan for school improvement and other documents related to the school’s work, and observed teaching and learning in the classrooms.

To be accredited by the Commission on Secondary Schools, a school must meet the Middle States Association’s standards for each major area of a school’s work and activity. These areas include the school’s philosophy/mission/beliefs/objectives, governance and leadership, organizational design and staff, educational programs, learning media services technology, student services, student life and activities, facilities, health and safety, finances, assessment of student learning, and planning.  

However, because Marist High School elected to use the Accreditation for Growth protocol for accreditation, the school was required to do more than meet the Association’s standards to be accredited. Accreditation for Growth (AFG) is a unique accreditation process that uses strategic planning as a vehicle for school improvement in student performance. AFG requires the school to establish objectives for improving student performance objectives identified by Marist High School which are: 1. To improve overall preparedness for college by increasing academic achievement and 2. To improve student ownership of their own development.

By choosing AFG as its accreditation protocol, Marist High School also made several commitments. It is committed to focusing its work on the end results – improved student performance- as the primary priority of school improvement efforts. It committed to operating the school from a vision of where it wants and/or needs to go with its mission and beliefs serving as a unifying force for change. It committed to including a varied spectrum of stakeholders in the process of continually defining a preferred vision, in developing the means to get closer to that vision, and in implementing action plans developed by these stakeholders. It committed to a process in which progress will be continuously reviewed. And, it agreed to participate in a peer review and external validation process by accepting outside visitors.

Ongoing review is the hallmark of AFG protocol, and Marist High School is required to conduct an annual review of the plan and school’s progress toward achieving its student’s performance objectives and to communicate the results of its work to the school’s community. At the end of the accreditation period, a Validation Team will make an onsite visit to the school to examine the results of these annual reviews, the school’s planning processes, and the content of the strategic plan. At the midpoint juncture in an accreditation cycle, one individual appointed by the Middle States Association, will make a one- day onsite visit.    
“Marist High School is to be congratulated for having completed a vigorous and demanding accreditation review process successfully,” said Dr. Henry G. Cram, Executive Director of the Commission on Secondary Schools. “By meeting the standards of the Association, and by having established a comprehensive and challenging strategic plan to improve targeted areas of student performance, Marist has joined a growing number of schools in the Middle States region that are committed to public accountability for their results. The Commission encourages the entire Marist community to join together in supporting the school as it seeks to achieve its objectives.”

For more information about the re-accreditation of Marist High School, contact: Brother Steve Schlitte, Principal at 201-437-4545.