Cognia Accreditation

Holy Name of Jesus Community,

Every six years our school completes the process of re-accreditation through Cognia, a global school accreditation agency, that provides guidelines and standards that we strive to adhere to in a holistic manner. During the accreditation process, education professionals from across the country review data, conduct personal interviews, evaluate our performance, and recommend research-based suggestions for improvement. The review team evaluated all of our supporting materials, current practices, and academic standings. They also interviewed students, parents, alumni, teachers, and administration. 

There are 40 standards divided among three domains that are assessed and evaluated. Each standard receives a score of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest.  A total score, called the Index of Education Quality (IEQ) is then calculated. An (IEQ) of 275 and above indicates the institution is beginning to reach the Impact level and is engaged in practices that are sustained over time and are becoming ingrained in the culture of the institution. Holy Name of Jesus’ Institution IEQ score is a phenomenal 360.50! To provide context, the average range for our Cognia Improvement Network, institutions evaluated for accreditation in the last five years within our network, is 278.34 - 283.33. HNJ scored 80 points higher than our network average.

To summarize, the review team found that a strong culture of community, collaboration, and purpose exists at HNJ. Instruction is driven by data and used to meet the individual needs of students. They also found that there is a culture of high expectations. Additionally, the review team communicated that Holy Name of Jesus is an exemplary school for others. Finally, the review team found that “the school is committed to collecting, analyzing, and using data to direct instruction and school-wide decision-making. The review team noted across the Cognia Domains that many to most stakeholders are engaged, desired practices or programs are monitored, a formal process is used, results receive generally favorable ratings, and the desired processes and programs are often embedded into the school culture.” 

Brief areas of improvement indicate a need to continue collecting longitudinal data to show growth over three and/or more years, a need to revisit and revise the Strategic Plan as the current one expires, and a need for school leaders to formulate and implement a comprehensive mentoring program for teachers new to the profession and those new to the school. These improvements were already recognized by HNJ before the review and were highlighted in the executive summary as focus areas for the 2022-2023 school year, indicating a strong understanding of necessary planning for continuous improvement.

A summary of the findings is as follows:

• Strength: Most stakeholder groups demonstrate actions toward achieving the school’s purpose.
  • Affirmation: Words used to describe the school included community, family, united, engaged, and welcoming.
  • Affirmation: There is much evidence to support how school leaders use multiple sources of data to assess school effectiveness;
  • Recommendation: several more years of data collection and analysis are needed to yield longitudinal data to show sustained growth over time.
• Strength: The school allocates human, material, and fiscal resources in alignment with the school’s purpose and to meet individual student needs.
  • Affirmation: Based on the outcome of meetings and survey results, school leaders initiated significant changes in personnel in the last three years. Some changes in human resource allocations were naming a new Principal, a Student Support Director, a Dean of Academic Innovation, and a Director of Institutional Advancement.
  • Affirmation: The strategic use of resources has led to increased student achievement as more individual student needs are addressed. Two counselors, interventionists, and an instructional technology coach have been added. An old computer lab was redesigned to facilitate individual and small group sessions as well as provide a place for students to go to ‘chill out.’
  • Affirmation: The review team applauds the school for its effective and efficient use of resources to meet the school’s purpose and individual student needs. Students, parents, and teachers all understood and expressed appreciation for this.
  • Recommendation: The team strongly encourages that the Discovery Walks be continued and even expanded with time.
• Strength: The school provides digital resources to enhance the curriculum. 
  • Affirmation: Young children are provided iPads and do project-based learning. Students in grades 1-7 have Chromebooks, many online programs, and digital textbooks. 
  • Affirmation: Support is provided by the IT coach.
  • Affirmation: The dean of academic innovation is responsible for aligning the use of digital resources to standards and best practices. 
  • Recommendation: The review team suggests that the updated strategic plan the school leaders are planning to develop includes details for how this significant investment will be kept current as technology changes so rapidly. 
• Strength: The school provides a strong culture of community and collaboration. 
  • Affirmation: They learned through document reviews of weekly PLC meetings, cross-curricular unit studies, many opportunities for teachers to serve on committees, and how teachers are encouraged to develop leadership skills. 
  • Affirmation: Parents and community members described the principal’s open-door policy, her willingness to listen, and how she “includes everybody in decision-making.”
  • Recommendation: The team had little to suggest in this area except to encourage the school leaders to explore more opportunities for students to actively complete service projects in the community as the pandemic continues to abate. 
• Strength: The school is driven by data. 
  • Affirmation: In the Principal’s Overview, she shared that the academic vision states that the school uses data to meet all student needs. Throughout the three-day review, the review team came to know the extent to which this statement is true. Document review and interviews served to verify that. 
  • Affirmation: In the words of the principal, “We all breathe data. You can’t say you don’t know.”
  • Recommendation: Through talking with classroom teachers, the review team concluded that the next steps in the improvement journey need to include more use of summative data. 
• Strength: The school engages in a continuous improvement process that includes goals, timelines, and strategies for measuring progress and effectiveness. 
  • Affirmation: The school leadership, including the governing body, engages in a systematic review of policies and procedures to ensure operational effectiveness. 
  • Affirmation: One parent said of the school, “It runs like a well-oiled machine.”
  • Recommendation: The review team encourages the leadership team to use the results of the self-study process that helped prepare for the Engagement Review along with the Cognia report as resources to help facilitate the next stage of their improvement journey. 
• Strength: The school initiates a strong desire to provide opportunities for students to own their data and use it to set their own goals. 
  • Affirmation: Differentiated instruction is provided in the classrooms with the increased use of small groups. 
  • Recommendation: The review team encourages the school leaders and teachers to continue with their goal to develop and implement a plan by which students can access and use their own data to be more active participants in their learning program.
• Strength: The school is strongly committed to providing quality professional learning to improve the institution’s effectiveness. 
  • Affirmation: Meeting agendas and minutes indicate how professional development is monitored and adjusted for quality and fidelity. 
  • Recommendation: The review team encourages the school leadership to follow through with their plans to collect and analyze data regarding the effectiveness of PD over time to see longitudinal trends.
• Area of Improvement: The school lacks formulating and implementing a formal mentoring program to initiate and support new teachers. 
  • Affirmation: Through the Executive Summary, interviews, and the Principal’s Overview, the review team learned that this is perceived as a need because they do not have a formal mentoring program for new teachers. 
  • Affirmation: There is evidence to support that informally much is done in this regard. 
  • Affirmation: Documentation shows that the dean of academic innovations and the dean of student support work closely with personnel and provide informal pop-ins, scheduled visits, and opportunities for colleague observations. 
  • Recommendation: It is suggested that the school leaders make it a priority to formulate and implement a comprehensive mentoring program for teachers new to the profession and those new to the school.

To review the comprehensive Cognia review document, click here. We are proud of HNJ and look forward to continued success in the future!

God Bless,

Kirsch