For the last two days, AdvancED, an international high school accreditation group, evaluated RBHS. The group presented its findings Tuesday after school in the PAC to a collection of RBHS faculty and district administrators.
On a scale of “Not Evident” to “Highly Functional,” RBHS garnered the top category five times out of seven, and the next best, “Operational,” twice.
“We found [RBHS] to be one of the finest, most exceptional schools we have reviewed,” AdvancED representative Dr. April Adams said. “There’s room for improvement that can take the school from great to one of the truly best.”
Chemistry teacher Stephanie Harman wasn’t surprised by these findings but admitted there is progress can still be made.
“I think that really, they saw us for what we are, which is a really high functioning, outstanding school,” Harman said. “I think that there’s always room for improvement, both small and large. It’s good that they pinpointed areas for us to target, and that’s going to help us improve and move forward as teachers, as students, and as a school.”
AdvancED interviewed more than 270 ‘stockholders’ — people in the community who had a vested interest in how the school is doing and its growth toward improvement. The company was impressed with the commitment everyone at RBHS had for freedom with responsibility, which they said was extremely unique, advanced and a potential model for other schools around the nation.
Principal Mark Maus was quite pleased with the school’s results as well. Having previously served on a similar committee, Maus knew the upcoming degree of scrutiny, and was proud RBHS achieved such high marks.
“I really appreciated the time and commitment AdvancED gave us, speaking with all those people, which is a credit to them and what they did. Like they said in their presentation, we are ‘great’ right now, and as a school, for us the next step is to go to ‘exceptional’,” Maus said.”
Even though RBHS is at a high level, Maus, Harman and social studies teacher Dan Ware felt that the school can do even better, especially in the two areas where the school did not receive a ‘Highly Functional’ rating.
“We really feel like we do a lot of things well,” Maus said. “It’s like Mr. Ware said yesterday in our presentation to their committee. We like what we’re doing, but there’s a certain uneasiness. We know we’re doing great, but we still can and need to get better. We’re always asking, ‘What’s the next step,’ and I think that what they found fortifies and further encourages us to go in that direction.”
After some paper work, AdvancED will certify RBHS as accredited, which places it as one of the top high schools not only in the nation, but in the world, Adams said.The accreditation will serve to improve RBHS’ overall standing, and Maus expects colleges and universities to take notice that students are graduating from an AdvancED approved school.
Getting accredited a second time “is something that as a school we can build on, and it’s certainly fulfilling to know that we really have been doing good work,” Maus said. “It’s also another piece of information for colleges to know, which helps our students, to be from an accredited school. However, our marks were not perfect, although they were certainly something to be proud of. We still have work to do, and there will always be room to improve. Our job is to improve now and in the future.”
By Nadav Gov-Ari
