Spring Semester, 2006

Dear Catholic School Principal in the FCC Program: 

It has come to my attention that there is still some confusion in our ranks about the August 2005 agreement between the Florida Catholic Conference (FCC) and the National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE).  I am writing to provide an overview of the agreement and hopefully clarify the Self-Study process. 

As you may recall, the FCC and the NSSE reached an agreement last semester about the use of resource materials and surveys for School Improvement Plans.  Each semester, the FCC’s Accreditation Program will directly contact schools that are scheduled to begin Self-Studies.  During the current school year, we have identified and contacted about 30 out of the 200-plus schools in our program.  If – for any reason – you believe that your school was scheduled to begin a Self-Study in the 2005-06 school year but has not yet been contacted by the FCC, please let us know right away by calling 850-224-7906 or by clicking here to send an email.    

Here are the steps involved under the new agreement:

1. Self-Study schools that have been notified by the FCC should complete a provided form called the “SIP-Development Notice,” and submit it along with a $250 service fee to the FCC, by a deadline set within the first few weeks of each semester.  On the notice, schools should be sure to include the contact information for their SIP-Development/ Steering Committee Chair.  Our office in turn will deposit the checks received by deadline and make a lump-sum payment to the NSSE.

2. Once the FCC deposits the checks and makes the payment, the NSSE will contact each school’s SIP-Development/ Steering Committee Chair directly with detailed information about the use of surveys.  The service fee will cover 100 access codes for surveys at $1 per code.  Schools will be able to purchase additional codes (beyond the 100 mentioned above) at the same rate of $1 per code. 

Many schools will need to obtain additional access codes directly from the NSSE; please check with your Office or Department of Schools if you are uncertain about the total number of codes needed for your school. 

These codes will provide access to specific surveys needed, including:

"NSSE Opinion Inventories," used for SIP Area I, “School Profile;”

"NSSE/FCC School Beliefs Inventory," for Area II, “Mission & Beliefs;”

"NSSE/FCC Survey of Seven Goals for Student Learning," for Area III, “Desired Results for Student Learning;” and

"NSSE/FCC Survey of Instructional and Organizational Effectiveness," for Area IV, “Analysis of Instructional and Organizational Effectiveness.”

Please note that the surveys named above are just part of the data-collection efforts used by schools in the SIP process.  Other tools include interviews, focus groups, documented observations, written or oral communications, student artwork/graphics, etc. 

3. For more detailed information on the Self-Study process, schools will be able to access the FCC “Companion to NSSE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: Focusing on Student Performance.”  This resource has been posted to the FCC website, but access is restricted to FCC Self-Study schools only through the use of a password.  The FCC has provided contact persons at Self-Study Schools with the password.

I hope this information has been helpful, but please don’t hesitate to contact me if you still have questions or need more information. 

Peace in Christ,

James B. Herzog,

Accreditation Program Manager