Accreditation - The Florida Catholic Conference

Accreditation Program Resources
We have gathered our most commonly used resources into one location below.

Manuals and Addendums:
Principles & Standards Manual (July 2008 Ed.)	Revised Teacher Assistant Standards (Area E2)	FCC Accreditation Policies & Procedures	FCC Strategic Plan (July 07 Ed.)	FCC Companion Manual (Password Protected, for Self-Study Schools Only)
List of FCCAP Member Schools (DRAFT):
Special Note: The FCCAP Staff has drafted the following list of membership schools and is in the process of finalizing the contact information, grade levels offered at each school, etc. Click here for a DRAFT list of FCCAP Member Schools; a Finalized List will be Posted by Nov. 30, 2008
Visitation Team and Chairperson Information:
FCC Visitation Manual	FCCAP Standards Checklist (May 2008)	Chairperson's Checklist (Key Reminders)	Stipends and Mileage Information	Poem/ Testimonial from School After Hosting Visitation
Information Regarding e-ARCA (electronic Annual Report of Continued Accreditation)
Preview Copy of e-ARCA (2008-09)		Website Link to Complete e-ARCA
Annual Dues for FCCAP Member Schools
Special Note: Please click the link provided to obtain the dues form for 2008-09. Each FCCAP-member school is asked to pay dues in the amount of $1.50 per student enrolled (Pre-Kindergarten to 8th Grade).		Dues Form for the 2008-09 School Year

OFFICIAL NOTICE

Revisions for the FCC “Principles and Standards"
The FCC Accreditation Committee has approved revised language for Area E, Administration
Standard 2 (regarding Teacher Assistants by Grade Level). For more information,
PLEASE CLICK HERE.

For information on the revised language for Area D, Personnel (Religion and Physical Education Teachers), introduced in the 2007-08 school year,
PLEASE CLICK HERE.

SAVE-THE-DATE REQUEST

ATTENTION CATHOLIC SCHOOL PRINCIPALS
AND ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS:
The next FCC Administrators' Conference is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, 2009, at the Harbor Beach Marriott Resort and Spa in Ft. Lauderdale. This special event is only held once every two years, so don't miss out! More details will be posted here as they become available. To read about our last memorable conference, held in Tampa
in February 2007, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

"Indeed, everything possible must be done, in cooperation with the wider community, to ensure that they are accessible to people of all social and economic strata. No child should be denied his or her right to an education in faith, which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation."

Quote from Pope Benedict XVI's address to educators about Catholic schools
April 17, 2008 -- at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO THE ENTIRE ADDRESS

COMING SOON, A PILOT FCCAP PROJECT:
ABSTRACTS/ LINKS TO CATHOLIC EDUCATION ARTICLES
(focusing on availability, accessibility and affordability)

"It is the responsibility of the entire Catholic community -- bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and laity -- to continue to strive towards the goal of making our Catholic elementary and secondary schools available, accessible, and affordable to all Catholic parents and their children, including those who are poor and middle class."

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
"Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic ... Schools in the Third Millennium"
(Copyright © 2005, USCCB)

CLICK HERE FOR A PDF OF THE FULL 2005 USCCB DOCUMENT

Efforts Underway to Increase Ranks
of Trained Visitation Team Members and Chairpersons

By James Herzog,
FCC Associate for Accreditation

With nearly 200 elementary schools in our FCC Accreditation Program, we have a number of schools hosting visitation teams in a given semester for the "School Improvement Plan" (SIP) process. In fact, usually 30-40 schools host visitation teams each academic year. This teams include 2-4 members, depending upon the size of the school. Team members come from outside dioceses (i.e. other than the host school's diocese). They can be teachers, guidance counselors, educational media specialists, assistant principals, principals, etc. In some cases, they are from diocesan school offices (i.e. superintendents or associates).

With this in mind, our FCC Accreditation Committee has been setting up training sessions for new team members throughout the Program. Furthermore, a chairperson training session is planned for two dioceses during the Fall 2008 semester. A number of principals and assistant principals from the St. Petersburg and Venice Dioceses will be attending this training event and luncheon, scheduled for Friday, Sept. 19, 2008. Sr. Joan Dawson, O.S.F., Superintendent of Schools from the Palm Beach Diocese, will conduct the training. (Sister Joan is the immediate past Chairperson for our FCCAC.)

During the 2007-08 school year, training sessions were held for the five following (Arch)Dioceses:

Dioceses of Savannah and St. Augustine, with Pat Bronsard, Associate Superintendent, Diocese of St. Augustine, as Trainer.
Diocese of Orlando, with Jim Cooney, Associate Superintendent, as Trainer.
Diocese of Palm Beach and Archdiocese of Miami, with Sr. Joan Dawson as Trainer.

The sessions thus far have added about 50 new team members to our rosters. A date for the training session in the Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese will be determined for 2008-09.