By MAUREEN McGUINNESS
Staff Writer
While Catholic school educators work hard to ensure that students entrusted to their care do their best in the classroom, another group strives to make sure that the Catholic schools themselves are working at their best.
The Quality Assessment Review Program, run by the diocesan Catholic School Office, examines each of the Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese on a five-year cycle, said Thomas Fitzgerald, assistant superintendent.
The first year is a self-study completed by the faculty and school community. Year two includes a visit from a team of educators from other Catholic schools in the Diocese. Years three through five are for implementing the findings of the previous efforts.
"It's our way of ensuring that each school has itself on a continuum of improvements," Dr. Fitzgerald said. "We're looking for when schools are doing the right thing as well as ways to make improvements."
How it works
While some people might be stressed by the idea of outsiders coming into their workplace and evaluating their programs, that wasn't the feeling during a recent review of Immaculate Conception School in Schenectady. The staff there found many benefits in the process.
"We had to think about our curriculum and look at what the Diocese and New York State expect of us," said Linda Pasquarelli, fifth grade teacher at the school. "To put it on paper was an eye-opener. It's amazing to see all that we do."
She is pleased with the review program. A teacher at the school for 13 years, she has also served on review teams that have visited other schools.
"It was wonderful to see what other teachers were doing and to share tricks of the trade," she said. "It's good to see how to improve facilities and philosophy. I came back to school thinking, `We're not doing such a bad job.'"
Teamwork
Dr. Fitzgerald said that sharing of ideas and experiences is one of the benefits of the review process. Serving on a review team takes the teacher out of his or her school to see how other schools handle certain lessons or situations.
"Many of the team members never had the experience of being in someone else's classroom," he said. "Team members pick up ideas."
Marjorie Edgar, principal of Immaculate Conception School agreed, saying: "You always take away good things and new ideas."
Serving on an evaluation team can help reduce the stress a teacher might feel as their own school evaluation is approaching, she continued, noting that Immaculate Conception School's evaluation was easier for those who had already served on a team.
Evaluation
While the review requires a year of preparation, Mrs. Edgar said that is a good thing. "It allows the school to look at all aspects of the program," she said. "Everyone worked on it, and we had discussions."
The evaluation process looks at the school's philosophy, demographics, administration, curriculum, faculty, support staff, finances and support services, Dr. Fitzgerald said. Teachers, students, parents, parish priests and parishioners are all asked for input.
During the two-day visit, team members look for evidence that the school philosophy is being lived out in all aspects of the school program. For that reason, team members observe everything from the way students arrive to classroom lessons and lunch periods.
After the visit, team members write down their findings, which are then pulled together by the Catholic School Office into a list of commendations and recommendations given to the school.
Positive experience
Mrs. Edgar and her staff were pleased with the report submitted to the staff of Immaculate Conception.
"They felt very good about it," she said of the staff. "They have some questions, but by and large they found it a useful process."
Diane Ferrera, a teacher at the school since 1992, called the process "a lot of work, but it makes you stop and look at programs, and reflect."