École secondaire de Clare is First Accredited Francophone School

The students and staff of École secondaire de Clare were honoured today, March 27, as Conseil scolaire acadien provincial's first provincially accredited school.

The accreditation designation culminates five years of work by the school to set higher standards, increase student achievement and improve the school's overall performance.

"École secondaire de Clare should be very proud of achieving this distinction," said Education Minister Judy Streatch. "I want to congratulate the staff, students, the school advisory committee and the entire school community, who put so much effort into a school-improvement strategy that is clearly making a very good school even better."

It was among the first schools selected in 2003 to pilot the Nova Scotia School Accreditation Program, a school-improvement process identified as a priority in Learning For Life II, the province's multi-year plan for education. Almost all of the province's 433 schools are now working on school accreditation plans.

"The Nova Scotia School Accreditation Program ensures that schools are continually improving and that the academic needs of all students are being met," said Ms. Streatch.

École secondaire de Clare, a grade 8-12 school, focused its improvement efforts on increasing overall student achievement in mathematics and science. It also set a goal of ensuring more French Grade 12 students achieved the French-language skills necessary for admission to a French-language university, such as Université Sainte-Anne.

"The accreditation process has allowed us to carefully examine what we do, how well we do it and, most importantly, how we can improve," said principal Phillip LeBlanc.

The Nova Scotia School Accreditation Program requires every school meet a standard of excellence based on goals that are specific and strategic, measurable, attainable, results-based and timely.

Under the program, schools establish internal review teams to collect and evaluate data identifying strengths and areas needing improvement. Schools then develop goals and work toward meeting them through a five-year school-improvement plan.

The plan is examined by an external review team of independent educators and administrators who visit each school before approving it. Schools implement the improvement plan, and provide annual updates to school advisory councils. An accreditation team returns to the school after four years to assess progress. Schools receive accreditation after they show progress toward improvement-plan goals.