EXCELLENCE OF EDUCATION IN PARADISE

April 22, 2016

Dear CCHS Community,

One of the characteristics of being a school of excellence is to obtain accreditation from an external organization that validates the well‐functioning of all of areas and processes of the institution. The primary importance of engaging in the accreditation process is to ensure that the school is constantly in a process of continuous improvement. Another benefit of accreditation is that it allows the school to award a US‐American diploma to all students who successfully complete the established academic requirements of the school. The US diploma allows our graduates to study in universities and colleges in the United States and around the world. The school must undergo a process of accreditation every 5 years in order to maintain its status. This ensures that the school is complying with standards of excellence and has shown improvement during the accreditation cycle.

In 2007, CCHS chose AdvancED (formerly known as SACS) of the United States as its accrediting organization based on the rigor of their high quality standards for educational and operational excellence. In 2011, CCHS received its first accreditation and from that point created a continuous improvement plan with goals and strategies aimed at improving the quality of education and services offered to the students and community.

This week, the school received an External Review Team from AdvancED that consisted of 5 experts in the educational and organizational management areas. Their objective was to review school evidence in the areas of academics, leadership and resource utilization based on the 5 standards of excellence established by AdvancED. The team spent their time reviewing many institutional documents, observing every teacher and their classes, and holding interviews with students, teachers, administrative staff, parents and community members. Many students, parents and teachers presented information to the team during their visit. At the end of the visit, the External Review Team scored the school in compliance of the standards, as well as gave information about how our school compared to other AdvancED schools around the world. The institutional revision was very in‐depth and very detailed.

I am proud to inform you that CAP CANA HERITAGE SCHOOL achieved an overall score WELL ABOVE AVERAGE compared to the 36,000 schools that are accredited by AdvancED around the world. In the areas of Teaching and Assessing for Learning and Leadership, the school scored WELL ABOVE AVERAGE and in the area of Resource Utilization the school scored EQUAL to the world average of all AdvancED schools. The external review team recommended to the International Council of AdvancED that CAP CANA HERITAGE SCHOOL receive the distinction of ACCREDITED for the next 5 years.

In the months remaining of this academic year, the school will begin designing the next 5 year continuous improvement plan based on the recommendations from the visiting review team, student performance data and feedback we have received from our parents. All of this information will be shared with our community at the beginning of our next academic year.

Aspects that the external review team highlighted during their visit were the overwhelming sense of family and community that exists in our school and the caring and personalized relationship that exists between students and school staff to ensure their academic and social‐emotional well‐being. Like all excellent schools, we will continue working hard to become better each year and to maintain the high sense of community that characterizes CCHS. Thank you, as always, for your support and confidence in all of us at Cap Cana Heritage School. Congratulations!

Proud to be a CCHS Marlin!

Adam Slaton
Head of School