Principal's Message...
As you are aware, Amherst Elementary has received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). SACS, founded in 1885, is an international accreditation agency whose purpose is to help schools improve through the process of a self-study. Accreditation involves the three major components listed below:
Meeting standards
- Completing a self-analysis on an annual basis and hosting a Quality Assurance Review Team visit once every 5 years
- Standards serve as a school guide for allocating and using resources for the benefit of student learning
Engaging in continuous improvement by addressing the following four elements:
- Vision-what future is the school perusing
- Profile-what is the current reality at the school
- Plan-what action does the school plan to improve
- Results-what has the school accomplished as a result of the action
Providing for quality assurance
- Improve student learning by a process of peer review
- Complying with the standards for accreditation, remaining faithful to its announced vision, mission, and beliefs and implementing an improvement plan.
- Documenting the results of its improvement efforts and using the results to further improve student learning.
Parent input is a valuable part of the SACS process. Not only is your voice heard in parent conferences but also by responding to parent surveys, communicating with teachers and administration by phone and e-mail and by volunteering at Amherst.
