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By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer

Bishop T.K. Gorman Catholic School has earned the highest rating of "exemplary" from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI).

An accreditation team visited the school in late January, returning a report that recommended Gorman for continued accreditation and recognized it as "exemplary" in terms of its effectiveness for demonstrating continuous improvement.

Gorman Principal Jim Franz said the school earning that status is recognition of its strengths.

"SACS noting that this is an exemplary school is an acknowledgement and affirmation for the entire school community and really an affirmation for the city of Tyler," Franz said. "It's an affirmation for the value of education in this community and the value of quality of education in this community. This school could not do it by itself."

According to the report, exemplary indicates, "the improvement process is consistently evident or routine, aligned with other practices and focused on achieving the vision and expectations for student learning."

It also indicates that "almost all staff is aware of the improvement process and understands its importance and how it impacts other people and practices in the school."

Gorman is accredited by the Texas Catholic Conference Edu-cation Department (TCCED) and chooses to also seek accreditation from SACS CASI. SACS CASI accredits more than 13,000 schools and school systems throughout the United States and overseas, according to its Web site.

The TCCED accreditation takes place about every 10 years, while the SACS CASI accreditation takes place every five to seven years.

Franz said Gorman chooses to seek another accreditation "to ensure greater accountability, to ensure quality performance and evaluation from a group that has a national understanding of what effective schools should be and effective schools should do."

It is a burdensome process and is not required, he said.

"We choose to do it because we want to ensure standards, we want to ensure we're doing the best job we can, and a variety of accreditation reports and examinations helps a school be the best that it can be," he said. "It helps us to grow."

Sandra Sherman, director of the Texas office of SACS CASI, said via phone that a school that gains the exemplary rating has surpassed expectations.

"Most schools do not receive exemplary," Ms. Sherman said.

She said that rating speaks to the quality of work happening at Gorman.

"They went beyond what was expected," said Ms. Sherman, who has visited Gorman in a past accreditation visit. "It's an excellent school. They have high expectations for themselves and they go beyond just the requirements. Excellence is a standard that they try to achieve in whatever they do."

PROCESS

The process of accreditation began about 11 months before a review team visited the school Jan. 22 and 23.

"We began by revisiting our strategic plan, then developing what we call a self study," Franz said.

The self study is not a principal's report, he said. Faculty, staff, students and parents are involved, forming committees and writing responses to how Gorman achieves SACS' standards in various areas.

Standards include continuous process of educational improvement, beliefs and mission, governance and leadership, finances and resources, human resources, support services for student learning, library/media services, facilities and communications and community relationships.

The faculty reviews the committee responses and makes suggestions to the self study, then the committee refines it.

The school provides SACS with the self study in addition to other information about Gorman - including the history of the school, annual budget, a facility needs plan and other documents.

A team of educators from SACS receives the report and, about two weeks later, visits the school for two to three days, Franz said.

The team interviews randomly chosen students, parents and faculty members.

The team makes a report and assigns a rating to a school - the highest is exemplary.

EVALUATION

The Quality Assurance Rev-iew Team found Bishop Gorman Catholic School to be "a high quality academic institution with a clearly defined religious mission led by a qualified and dedicated professional staff, a board that is both knowledgeable and truly supportive and a parent body that knows they've found a good thing," according to the group's report.

"It is clear that their combined efforts are serving the educational needs of a bright and engaging student body."

Attributes listed for the school include that it has "exceptionally strong campus leadership," that it is "true to its mission," that its "new library/media center is an exceptional asset to the learning program with an outstanding collection, atmosphere and facility" and that "100 percent of the graduates of Gorman go on to colleges and universities" among many others.

The team also offered recommendations for improvement, including a need for additional funding for annual upgrades, improvements and addition and replacement of equipment to keep technology up-to-date.

The reports also stated that science labs need review and updated equipment, the gym/field house needs updating with extra space for activities; there is a need for directed vision for development efforts and increased personnel are needed in the areas of maintenance/custodial, library, communications and school nurse.

Being accredited by this group gives the school a chance to have a group of "objective, outside educators with a national perspective to evaluate, to affirm and to make observations about areas of growth that helps this school to acknowledge its strengths, but to become a better school in the long run," the principal said.

"Not a single human institution is perfect. We're all flawed in some ways, and we all need to keep improving," he said. "Even an exemplary school is not going to be exemplary for long if it remains where it is."