Accreditation



All Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Metuchen are accredited as a system through AdvancED-Cognia. Every five years, the Diocesan School Office completes the system-wide accreditation review, which culminates with a visit by an AdvancED External Review Team.
 
One of the evaluation tools used to assist schools in self-evaluation is the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools. These standards and benchmarks can be found at http://www.catholicschoolstandards.org.
 
AdvancED-Cognia is a performance-based model that:

• Adopts a balanced, systemic approach
• Employs diagnostic tools
• Uses standards, stakeholder feedback, and student performance
• Focuses on evaluating performance

• Meet AdvancED-Cognia Standards for Quality
• Implement continuous improvement process
• Update demographics
• Conduct an Internal Review, which includes:
  • Self Assessment
  • Executive Summary
  • Stakeholder Feedback and Student Performance Diagnostic
  • Improvement Plan
  • Assurances
• Host an External Review once every five years
• Respond to Improvement Priorities in Accreditation Progress Report

 
Our Lady of Victories School is accredited by the nationally-recognized AdvancED-Cognia School System Accreditation. AdvancED-Cognia is a school accrediting agency that conducts rigorous, on-site external reviews of PreK-12 schools and school systems to ensure academic growth. The agency has a long history of accreditation expertise with over 100 years of knowledge and experience regarding school improvement. In October 2014, all schools underwent the rigorous review process by AdvancED and accreditation was granted on January 22, 2015. OLV School will begin the process of reaccreditaton beginning this Fall 2018. 

Click here to learn more about our AdvancED-Cognia Accreditation.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

The term professional learning community describes a collegial group of administrators and school staff who are united in their commitment to 
student learning.

They share a vision, work and learn collaboratively, visit and review other classrooms, and participate in decision making (Hord, 1997b). The benefits to the staff and students include a reduced isolation of teachers, better informed and committed teachers, and academic gains for students. Hord (1997b) notes, "As an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen as a powerful staff-development approach and a potent strategy for school change and improvement."

Our Lady of Victories School has formed collaborative teams whose teachers work interpedently to achieve common goals linked to the purpose of learning for all. The school has selected the goal of increasing the math scores of ALL students. The school has achieved a Professional Learning Community advanced status effective March 23, 2010.

Click here to read the Spring 2019 AdvancED Catholic Identity Parent Survey results