CAPE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL EARNS FULL ACCREDITATION

Cape Christian School recently completed a three-year review and has earned full accreditation from the Association of Christian School International.

Principal Beverly Smart said the accreditation demonstrates a high level of accountability and performance to families interested in enrolling their children in the school. Meeting accreditation requirements has been a challenging but rewarding process that has been made easier with parental involvement.

"What it does is let parents know that an independent group has come in and taken a look at the school and verified we are offering a quality education," said Smart. "We've been compared to a standard applied to hundreds of schools all across the country."

The Association of Christian School International (ASCI) was started in 1978 to improve the quality of Christian schools across the nation. The organization is recognized by the National Council for Private School Accreditation and has 5,000 member schools in 115 countries.

ASCI conducts a five-part review of prospective members. To gain accreditation, school must complete a self-study and analysis, a comparison to established standards and an assessment of a school's mission. Schools also must demonstrate a commitment to quality education and a willingness to be accountable to the national organization.

While the accreditation likely will make the school more attractive to some prospective families, Smart said officials are not looking to expand the enrollment in the near future. The school has an enrollment of 120 students and can handle as many as 150 students.

Instead, Smart plans to focus on upgrading instruction in several areas.

For example, the kindergarten class will be expanded to a full-day program to meet parental needs. And in the fall, all students will take a Spanish class twice weekly.

"We've been doing Spanish as an after-school program for about three years, with about 20 percent of students participating," said Smart. "It's something we decided to move into the regular curriculum because we know that the younger a child begins learning a foreign language, the easier it is for them to pick it up."

Cape Christian School is a non-denominational Christian school for kindergarten through sixth-grade students. The school opened in 1976.