Last week Dr. Nelson wrote about BJA’s accreditation review visit next month. Before and during the visit the team will use 12 standards to measure BJA. The team will look at our school quality and how well we are meeting our stated goals. They also will look at where we excel and where we need to apply additional resources toward growth and change for the benefit of our students and their families.
These 12 standards range from philosophy to facilities, from safety to student activities, and from school organizational structure to information technology. Standard 1 looks at philosophy, mission, and goals.
Standard 1 includes four rubrics. Using the rubrics, the team will score how clear our philosophy and mission statements are in stating our Christian beliefs, what we’ve done to communicate that with our students and families, and how we assess if we’re effective in fulfilling our mission and goals.
On the last accreditation visit, the team noticed something about our philosophy, mission, and goals. While our mission statement is clearly stated on our website and in our handbook, it was not clearly promoted in our school facilities. Although a mission statement was displayed in each of our high school classrooms, it was BJU’s mission statement. That’s a great mission statement—but it is intended for college students, not high school students. Now BJA’s mission statement, which includes the idea of working with parents, is displayed in those classrooms.
More importantly, though, this accreditation visit was a good opportunity for us to reevaluate how much our mission statement affects our actual practices. Interviews that the accreditation team did with faculty, students, and parents indicated that our mission statement is a critical part of our mindset. Even our younger students—who may not be able to quote the mission statement—can tell you what is most important around here.
Bob Jones Academy exists to assist like-minded Christian parents in challenging students to love Jesus Christ, to embrace God’s truth, to exercise integrity, to pursue excellence, and to serve others.
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