At its regular monthly meeting on May 4-5, 2006 the Commission on Public Elementary and Middle Schools reviewed and accepted the report of a New England Association of Schools and Colleges Visiting team and recommended that the Board of Trustees of the NEASC award initial accreditation status to Bonny Eagle Middle School. Their final endorsement means that BEMS is now one of only five other middle schools in Maine to currently have this distinction.
The middle school’s journey to become accredited by the NEASC actually began nearly four years ago, when BEMS filed an Application for Candidacy in the fall of 2002. In February, 2003, the Commission reviewed their request and granted initial approval for BEMS to be officially designated as a “candidate for accreditation”. The next phase of the process required organizing a Steering Committee comprised of eight teacher leaders and administrators and charged with guiding staff through a complex, two-year self study process. During this time, committees were formed to address the seven different standards areas (Mission and Expectations for Student Learning, Instruction, Curriculum, Assessment, Leadership and Organization, Community Resources for Student Learning, and School Resources for Student
Learning) recognized by the NEASC as important indicators for effective schools. BEMS then began the long process of preparing what eventually became a final 300 page self-study document. Before this report could be submitted to the NEASC, each section had to be reviewed and approved by a two-thirds vote of the faculty. This extensive work was completed on schedule in June, 2005.
During September and October, 2005, the NEASC assembled a fifteen member visiting team made up of teachers and administrators from schools all over New England. They were given copies of the BEMS Self Study and charged with analyzing all the information included in the document before visiting the school. On November 6-9, 2005 the Site Visit Team traveled to Bonny Eagle Middle School to actually validate and assess the strengths and areas for improvement included the school’s self study report.
From December through early April, the Chair of the NEASC Visiting Team compiled and edited all the data that would eventually be included in the final report and recommendation to the Commission. The commendations and recommendations included in this document will be used by BEMS as it plans all future school improvement initiatives.
Receiving this distinction is a remarkable accomplishment for several important reasons. First, being granted accreditation is not guaranteed by merely participating in the process. Next, this was the school’s first attempt to become accredited and few BEMS staff had any prior knowledge of the accreditation process or experience writing in writing reports on the seven NEASC standards. Special thanks and congratulations goes to the entire BEMS staff for all of its hard work and dedication to this effort!
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