Middle States Update – 4/12/19

As many of you know, our community has been embarking on our Middle States reaccreditation. For two years, we have been working on a rigorous self-study and developing a comprehensive plan for school improvement. After hours of collaborative efforts, we are proud to announce that the visiting team is recommending us for reaccreditation.

We wish to extend our sincere gratitude to all the faculty, staff, students, parents, alumnae, and board members who have contributed to this process.

Please feel free to review our plans for school improvement on our website. Our action plans will become implementation plans as we work to achieve our goals over the next seven years.

“The Visiting Team sees that Our Lady of Mercy Academy has taken the [Middle States Accreditation] process very seriously. When a school uses the process as a journey of improvement and reflection, it works. In our extensive careers as educators, we have very few times come across student groups who are as articulate, polite, focused, and poised as the students at Mercy. From the moment we entered the school, we felt its special uniqueness. We are in awe of the level of student, staff, parent, and alumnae participation in the life of this school.” –Sr. Janice Shaw, IHM, Chair of The Middle States Visiting Team.

Our entire school community is proud of what we have accomplished and excited for the work ahead, as we continually look inward and make improvements that will benefit each student’s experience at OLMA, today and in the future.

Past Updates

Dear OLMA Friends and Family,

Please take a few minutes to watch this brief introductory video about the process of reaccreditation at Our Lady of Mercy Academy by clicking the file below. We are excited about this journey and self-study, and look forward to engaging you in the process. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with me at lharrison@olma.org.

Have a great day!

Ms. Harrison

5/22/18

Faculty and Staff Middles States Standards for Accreditation Survey Issued.

5/25/18

Parent Middle States Survey Issued

Middle States Accreditation Update:
On behalf of Mrs. Cannavina, Mrs. Lenz, and Mrs. Maritato, OLMA’s Internal Coordinators of the Middle States Re-Accreditation process, I am sharing with you the link to the Self-Assessment of the Middle States Standards for Accreditation: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B7BWH6T 

As parents, you represent the voice of a critical body of constituents, and your perspective about how we are doing is very valuable to us. It is our hope that you will contribute your feedback by taking the time to complete this survey. The deadline for completion is midnight on Friday, June 1st. Next week in homeroom we will issue the student survey (seniors will receive it at graduation practice). Please encourage your daughters to share their feedback as well.

Information and Suggestions for taking the Self-Assessment of the Middle States Standards for Accreditation:

· The purpose of the survey is to evaluate ourselves against the Middle States 12 Standards for Accreditation to acknowledge what we are doing well and share where improvement is needed. The survey’s sections are organized according to following 12 Standards:

  • Mission
  • Governance and Leadership
  • School Improvement Planning
  • Finances
  • Facilities
  • School Organization and Staff
  • Health and Safety
  • Educational Program
  • Assessment and Evidence of Student Learning
  • Student Life and Activities
  • Information Resources

· For your information in answering questions about Governance and Leadership:

  • Governance refers to OLMA’s Board of Directors and MESA (The Mercy Education System of the Americas). These two tiers are the bodies that govern our school.
  • Leadership refers to OLMA’s school-level administrators: The President, Principal, and Assistant Principal. These are the three persons who lead our school.

· If you are unable to answer a question, please skip it and leave it blank. This is an answer in itself, as it helps us to understand where there may be a lack of information or where more communication is necessary. It may happen that you skip many questions, possibly even more than you answer. That is ok.

· At the end of each Standard’s section, there will be a comment box. Please use it if you feel you need to be more specific or clarify any of your answers.

· Unfortunately you must complete the survey in one sitting; you will not be able to save answers and complete it at a later date.

· If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or to the Internal Coordinators:

  • Ms. Harrison – lharrison@olma.org
  • Mrs. Cannavina – acannavina@olma.org
  • Mrs. Lenz – blenz@olma.org
  • Mrs. Maritato – cmaritato@olma.org

5/29/18
Senior Student Middle States Accreditation Survey Issued

5/30/19
9th, 10th, and 11th Grade Student Middle States Survey Issued

6/12/18

Dear Sisters of Mercy, Board Members, Alumnae, Coaches, and Friends of the OLMA School Community,

On behalf of Mrs. Cannavina, Mrs. Lenz, and Mrs. Maritato, OLMA’s Internal Coordinators of the Middle States Re-Accreditation process, I would like to invite you to take OLMA’s Self-Assessment of the Middle States Standards for Accreditation. Please click here​​​​​​​.

As constituents, you have a unique and important perspective to share and your contributions about what we do well and where improvement is needed are very valuable to us. It is our hope that you will contribute your feedback by taking the time to complete this survey. The deadline for completion is midnight on
Tuesday, June 19th.

Information and Suggestions for taking the Self-Assessment of the Middle States Standards for Accreditation:

* The purpose of the survey is to evaluate ourselves against the Middle States 12 Standards for Accreditation, to acknowledge what we are doing well and share where improvement is needed. The survey’s sections are organized according to following 12 Standards:

  • Mission
  • Governance and Leadership
  • School Improvement Planning
  • Finances
  • Facilities
  • School Organization and Staff
  • Health and Safety
  • Educational Program
  • Assessment and Evidence of Student Learning
  • Student Life and Activities
  • Information Resources

* For your information in answering questions about Governance and Leadership:

  • Governance refers to OLMA’s Board of Directors and MESA (The Mercy Education System of the Americas). These two tiers are the bodies that govern our school.
  • Leadership refers to OLMA’s school-level administrators: The President, Principal, and Assistant Principal. These are the three persons who lead our school.

* If you are unable to answer a question, please skip it and leave it blank. This is an answer in itself, as it helps us to understand where there may be a lack of information or where more communication is necessary. It may happen that you skip many questions, possibly even more than you answer. That is ok.

* At the end of each Standard’s section, there will be a comment box. Please use it if you feel you need to be more specific or clarify any of your answers.

* Unfortunately you must complete the survey in one sitting; you will not be able to save answers and complete it at a later date.

* If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or to the Internal Coordinators:

* o Ms. Harrison – lharrison@olma.org
* o Mrs. Cannavina – acannavina@olma.org
* o Mrs. Lenz – blenz@olma.org
* o Mrs. Maritato – cmaritato@olma.org

Many thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Lisa Harrison
Principal

10/30/18 – Middle States Update:

On Monday, October 15ththe Middle States Planning Team met to begin the process of establishing measurable strategic planning objectives in the areas of student performance and organizational capacity. The objectives are derived from all of the constituent surveys that have been completed thus far. After lengthy discussion, the following areas have been identified for further development into clear and measurable objectives: health and wellness, security, improved communication among stakeholders, and increasing support services for students in need of academic support.

The next Middle States Planning Team meeting is scheduled for November 7th. Further updates will be provided as we progress in this vital process.

The Planning Team is comprised of the following constituents:

Jackie Callinan, Student Council President

Jillian Tremblay, Junior Class President

Kate Serpe, Sophomore Class Vice President

Tara Daly, Parent

David Espinal, Theology Chairperson

Marissa Breitinger, History Teacher

Margaret Myhan, OLMA President

Sandra Betters, OLMA Principal

Sr. Margaret Ann, OLMA Board Member

Sr. Meghan McArdle, OLMA Assistant Principal

Bevin Lenz, MS Internal Coordinator, English Teacher

Christine Maritato, MS Internal Coordinator, Science Chairperson

Allison Cannavina, MS Internal Coordinator, History Teacher

 2/1/2019

Middle States Update:

After careful consideration of constituent feedback and the needs of our students, the following objectives have been identified for our upcoming Middle States re-accreditation. The planning team has worked hard to prioritize areas for improvement that will guide the OLMA community in achieving the level of excellence to which we aspire. Action teams have been established for each objective and will meet this month to begin the process of mapping out a plan for successful implementation.

Student Performance Objectives:

  1. 1. Health and Wellness

By spring 2027, Our Lady of Mercy Academy students will demonstrate an increase in utilization of social/emotional, spiritual, and academic wellness programs as demonstrated by 50% student involvement in study skills, life skills, spiritual, and general health and wellness program offerings.

  1. 2. Students with Learning Differences

By spring 2027, Our Lady of Mercy Academy students with documented learning differences will demonstrate increased confidence and academic success.

Organizational Capacity Objectives:

  1. Communication

By spring 2027, Our Lady of Mercy Academy will demonstrate improvement in constituent communication, more specifically:

    • Faculty and staff communication
    • Student communication
    • Parent communication
    • Other constituent communication (alumnae, donors, board members)
  1. Security

By spring 2027, Our Lady of Mercy Academy will improve safety awareness, crisis preparedness, and facility security.

Our next step includes developing baseline data that will serve as a growth comparison over the next seven years.  Please take a few moments to complete the following security and communication surveys (you may need to cut and paste the links below to access both surveys):

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M9C3PJ6

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BKK66R2

Please complete these surveys no later than 3 PM on Wednesday, February 13th.

Middle States Update:

On Monday, February 25th, Ms. Betters, Mrs. Cannavina, Mrs. Maritato, and Ms. Lenz had the pleasure of welcoming Sr. Janice Shaw from Cristo Rey Philadelphia High school to OLMA. Sr. Janice will serve as the Chairperson of the Middle States Evaluating Team. During her visit, Sr. Janice had the opportunity to tour the school and make preliminary plans and preparations for the Evaluating Team’s visit in April.

Middle States Update:

On Tuesday, February 26th, Middle States Action Teams met to create actions plans to be implemented for the successful achievement of our Middle States Objectives. The revised MS Objectives have received final approval from the Middle States Association and are as follows:

Organizational Capacity Objective #1:  Communication

By 2027, OLMA will demonstrate a 10% improvement in constituent communication satisfaction and a 300% increase (an increase of 1 to 4) in the number of annual Administrative State of the School Updates for Faculty and Staff, as measured by:

  • OLMA Constituent Communication Survey  (internal assessment)
  • Administrative State of the School Updates  (internal assessment)

Organizational Capacity Objective #2:  Security

By 2027, OLMA will improve safety awareness, crisis preparedness, and facility security, and reduce the number of constituents that feel OLMA security needs improvement by 50% (from 38% to 20%), as measured by the annual OLMA Security Survey (internal assessment).

Student Performance Objective #1: Students with Learning Differences

By spring 2027, Our Lady of Mercy Academy students with documented learning differences will demonstrate increased confidence and academic success, as measured by a 5% decrease in the number of students with IEPs and 504s who are placed on academic probation.

Student Performance Objective #2:  Health and Wellness

By spring 2027, Our Lady of Mercy Academy students will demonstrate an increase in utilization of social/emotional, spiritual, and academic wellness programs as demonstrated by 50% student involvement in study skills, life skills, spiritual, and general health and wellness program offerings, and a decrease in the number of students in need of intervention for social and emotional wellbeing (SEW).  

Middle States Update:

On Monday, March 4th, members of the Middle States Planning team will meet to review the Action Plans for the successful implementation of our Middle States objectives.

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