Parker is accredited by the New York Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), and on March 13, a Visiting Committee of educators will come to Parker for four days as part of our NYSAIS accreditation cycle.  This is our Decennial year - and that's the the big one.  

This lion was created as part of a 4-5 puppet show that was written and performed in Spanish for Preschool buddies.

Starting in November of 2014 a Steering Committee chaired by Pre K teacher JoAnn Bennett began our self study - a process where we responded to questions in the NYSAIS manual of accreditation to analyze what we do in all areas of school life, in relation to the mission of the school.  This process helps us examine and evaluate our strengths and areas we want to grow in and affirms our unique character as a school.

It is designed to be collaborative and everyone has gotten involved with writing our self study report over the past 15 months: teachers, administrators, parents, trustees, and students.  The parents' section was written by Parent Council officers using the results of the Parent Survey that was filled out by almost two-thirds of our families last spring.  

We have produced a giant document - over 100 pages - that analyzes everything from curriculum and how we nurture our school's culture, to where we store science chemicals and how we make progress on our strategic plan.  The Board has written about governance, the teachers about how we interact with the greater regional community, and our Admission Director, about the admission process - among many other things.  In each area of writing, we worked in collaborative groups, and included student readers where appropriate.

Writing the self study was rigorous and interesting and the report was sent off to the Visiting

Eighth graders perform "Sign Language of the Week" at Assembly.

Committee in January.  When they arrive on Sunday, March 13, we will hold a small reception for them with our teachers and board.  They will be set up with plenty of snacks in the Faculty Meeting Room.  During their stay, they will visit in every classroom and talk to every teacher and administrator, observing and studying and figuring out if our self-analysis is on target.  They will even observe us in a fire drill!  Then they will write up a response to our self study - commending us in areas where we shine, and making recommendations for areas to work on.

Since there are almost 200 independent schools accredited by NYSAIS, teachers and administrators take turns serving on Visiting Committees.  

I have been on many and have chaired the five-year and Decennial visits for schools in Manhattan and the Hudson Valley.  I am also a Commissioner of Accreditation with 19 other Head's of School and we review all self studies and Visiting Committee reports, usually about 30 per year, to determine if a school should retain it's accreditation. 

You can tell that this is a big deal!