Sherwood Christian Academy announced this week that the school received re-accreditation this spring. Since 2007, SCA has been accredited by AdvancEd (the umbrella organization for the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools/SACS) and the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI).

This dual accreditation speaks of operational and academic excellence as well as the implementation of best practices of Christian education. Being an accredited school puts a stamp of approval and legitimacy on SCA’s diploma, allowing its students to attend the colleges of their choice and to be eligible for a broad range of scholarships nationwide.

Accreditation is a process whereby a school places itself under the inspection of a visiting team of educational professionals representing the two aforementioned accrediting bodies and their prescribed standards. The specifics cover the areas of mission and philosophy; governance and leadership; and operations including security, academics, programming, spiritual formation and strategic planning. SCA passed the standards inspection with exemplary marks.

As a mature school, SCA leadership chose to embark on Accreditation by School Progress (ASP), adding an additional writing component to this accreditation cycle that would have an appreciable effect on student achievement.

“Ultimately, we see effective communication skills as the currency of influence with others and as very important for students’ success in the future job market,” Headmaster Dr. Brian Dougherty said. “We developed a writing project called Writing the SCA Way as a way to increase our instruction in this area across the grades and the disciplines.

“This new curriculum helps every grade K-12 place a strong emphasis on writing and communication skills. The goal is that by the next accreditation cycle in five years, our writing project blueprint is reproduceable by other schools.”

(article courtesy of the Albany Herald, 6-22-19)