Holden Christian Academy Accreditation Report

HCA has completed a landmark year.  2006 marked the culmination of several years of diligent work resulting in the granting of a full term of accreditation with ACSI (the Association of Christian Schools, International).  HCA is now the thirteenth school in the entire Northeast region (NE plus New York) to achieve this distinction.

To prepare for an accreditation team visit by the Association of Christian Schools International the staff and school committee have spent countless hours analyzing every aspect of the school and generating the required reports to substantiate their findings. The teachers have been diligently working on our curriculum binders, developing units that reflect everything taught at HCA. Once these were drafted, each document and unit was reviewed by at least two other individuals. The staff then prepared for the physical visit of the team by making accessible all resources as well as copies of student work and projects.

 On April 10 of 2006, we welcomed Elsie Wright of Barrington Christian Academy and her team of five ACSI colleagues. They spent four days with our staff, students, school committee, and parents to validate the HCA self-study. They interviewed, examined, and critiqued HCA to confirm that we are who and what we claim to be. Their visit culminated in a meeting where major commendations and recommendations were discussed. Among other things, they commended HCA on:

¨  An integrated biblical worldview and well-articulated academic philosophy statement

¨  The commitment to a unique educational vision

¨  The supportive family atmosphere throughout the school

¨  A comprehensive, creative, and thorough Bible and social studies curricula 

The team also commended Holden Chapel for its significant financial support of the school.

The team's major recommendations included the school committee clarifying its function, developing vision and core value statements that reflect the nature of the school, and re-committing to development goals as outlined in the school's strategic plan.  These issues were examined at a recent school committee retreat, and continue to be at the forefront of our thinking.

Holden Christian Academy is a leader in the area of curriculum innovation. Strong convictions about best learning practices supported by educational research have led this group of educators to commit themselves to an ongoing process of curriculum development based on key concepts that integrate the disciplines and provide the thematic studies through which they teach the important academic skills that we all strive to teach our students. The foundation of a Christian worldview and Christian discipleship is very evident in HCA's philosophy, practices and curriculum.

That being said, HCA is currently at a real cross-roads in its life as a school. A decline in enrollment coupled with an over-reliance on some very generous but a very few significant financial supporters could leave the school very vulnerable without appropriate action.

It is the opinion of the visiting team that the school's governing body, the HCA School Committee, would greatly benefit from some further training on the role of an effective school board. Appropriately, the Committee is working first to get the school's finances
in good order, so that reporting is clear to all, communication is effective, and the required financial review is completed. Then, as the board develops into a policy and strategic planning board, it will find itself tackling important issues such as development and planning for the future. This will enable the very competent administration and faculty to continue what they do so well: educate children the HCA way.

Now that HCA has accomplished the short term goals of preparing its Self-Study and getting its manuals and policy handbooks in place, it is time to focus on bringing the school to the next level by setting the ground work needed to insure the school's financial stability and organizational strength for the future.

We fully expect that the attention given to the school improvement process will help HCA become a strong school that continues to thrive and indeed takes its place as a leader among innovative Christian schools that are able to share what they do with other growing schools. We look forward to seeing how God will use this school in the lives of its students, its faculty and the Christian school community in New England.

We are grateful to the ACSI Accreditation team for the many hours they put in examining our school, and for the granting of the ACSI Accreditation.  We look forward to continued growth and improvement as we carry out our educational mission.