On February 26-27, FPD will welcome a joint accreditation team representing SAIS, AdvancED, and ACSI. The team will be joined on campus by representatives from ACSI’s national office and CESA. The joint team’s visit is part of FPD’s five-year accreditation renewal process. ACSI’s national representatives are considering FPD for Exemplary recognition. CESA evaluates college-preparatory, Christian schools with a set of standards that go above standard accreditation.

“Accreditation provides external accountability to a recognized set of standards,” notes FPD Assistant Headmaster Dr. Barry Shealy, “The standards address the whole picture including mission, governance and leadership, curriculum and instruction, faculty and resources, business practices and facility management, spiritual formation and character development, and program evaluation and planning.”  If you are interested in reviewing the standards, guidebooks from each organization are available on our website.

In preparation for the visit, FPD faculty, staff, and others have been meeting in several committees to review our current practices and plan for school improvement. They reviewed the surveys completed by parents, students, and faculty in early 2017, student performance data, and industry and market data.

The February visit will include tours of FPD’s classrooms and campus along with meetings with faculty, students, and parents. The team will be looking for pervasiveness of philosophy and mission, collaboration and collegiality, clearly defined objectives and expectations, varied instructional techniques, variety of assessment practices, ongoing faculty development, and attention to character development and spiritual formation.

“We are honored to welcome these teams to our campus,” commented Dr. Shealy. “We appreciate the feedback we will receive from educators with diverse perspectives and experiences. The accreditation process provides assurance for our families that the FPD program will continue to be of high quality.”