Centerville-Abington Community Schools awarded what only 32 others across the world received

CENTERVILLE, Ind. — Centerville-Abington Community Schools found itself in elite company at Wednesday night's school board meeting.

On Oct. 18, Dr. Jennifer Horvath, the regional director for Cognia (formerly NCA Accreditation) presented a plaque to the board recognizing it as a Cognia School System of Distinction, a highly coveted and competitive award for countries across the world.

CACS became one of just eight school districts that were selected, with 25 schools also being selected for a total of 33, out of 1,100 that were considered worldwide.

"When I received a phone call internally that we had in Indiana a few organizations that had received this, I knew you were at the top of my list," Horvath told the board. "That who you are and that was very evident when we were here as a review team."

Horvath was impressed by the transparency and consistency of performance that CACS performed at back when the review team visited the schools from Feb. 20-Feb. 23.

"Thinking back through the years and even the previous superintendents, there's no secret to what they do," she said. "You don't have some sort of hidden magic want that Mike [McCoy] walks around the district and swings around. You have so many consistent practices, a strong vision and mission."

She continued, "So many schools I go to, they'll try to impose high expectations for students. Maybe this is a secret, but you all set high expectations for staff and staff impose those high expectations on themselves ... To say you look at what's best for students, that's part of it, but you look for that sustainability and those consistent protocols and processes, and you just don't stop there. You keep going and you monitor those outcomes and you continue to tweak that."

Two others from Indiana were awarded: Duneland School Corporation based in Chesterton and Penn High School in Mishawaka. 25 from the United States were selected, with an additional four from Saudi Arabia, two from Egypt and one each from China and Mexico.

Cognia serves 40,000 institutions across 90 countries and all 50 states.

The following is the complete press release from CACS on Oct. 1 when the district first received notice of its accreditation:

Cognia®, a world-wide accreditation agency, including North Central Association (NCA) Accreditation Commission, names Centerville-Abington Community Schools a 2023 Cognia® System of Distinction for excellence in education. This year Cognia recognized 33 schools and school systems in the United States and in four other countries across the globe as 2023 Cognia Schools or Systems of Distinction.

“I am pleased to congratulate Centerville-Abington Community Schools (CACS) for their designation as a 2023 Cognia System of Distinction, a program which recognizes public and non-public institutions that exemplify excellence in education and service to learners,” said Dr. Mark A. Elgart, president and CEO of Cognia. The accrediting agency selected CACS as one of the 25 schools and eight systems out of more than 1,100 eligible institutions that hosted a Cognia Accreditation Engagement Review during the 2022-2023 school year. Cognia serves approximately 40,000 institutions across 90 countries, including all 50 states.

“It is truly an honor to receive such a prestigious award from an organization known around the world for its rigorous and detail-oriented accreditation process. A lot of hard work and dedication went into the preparation for the visit and it is great to know that others can see what we know we are proudly accomplishing at CACS,” said Dr. Mike McCoy, superintendent, Centerville-Abington Community Schools.

Centerville-Abington Community Schools first earned Cognia Accreditation in1968 at Centerville High School and in 2007 the entire school district of all four school received District accreditation. The latest distinction was awarded in February, 2023 during an on-site review for reaccreditation by a professor from Eastern Kentucky University and a Regional Director from Cognia. During the 2022-2023 school year, all four Centerville schools participated in Cognia’s rigorous Accreditation Engagement Review process, which is grounded in research-based performance standards. The process includes a third-party review of evidence by education experts, interviews, and classroom observations over a four-day period. The review evaluates institutions and seeks evidence of growth in learning, a healthy culture for learning, engaging and high-quality instructional environments, and effective leadership for learning—all characteristics Cognia expects to see in quality schools that also demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement.

Centerville-Abington Community School District is to be commended for earning the designation as a System of Distinction,” said Dr. Mark A. Elgart, president and CEO of Cognia. “Cognia Accreditation is already a mark of school quality recognized around the world. Being named a School or System of Distinction further acknowledges the demonstrated commitment to education quality and a mindset of continuous improvement CACS has for its learners,” Elgart added.

Cognia’s Global Network member institutions offer an opportunity to earn designation as a school or system of distinction in the year in which an accreditation engagement review is held. Unlike the typical six-year accreditation cycle, this program recognizes institutions that host a Cognia Accreditation Engagement Review within the recognition year and winners carry the designation for one year. Learn more about Cognia Accreditation at Cognia.org.

The full report on the accreditation engagement review can be found here and a summary of it can be found here.

Also at the meeting was unanimous approval by the board on several new policies to either replace old ones or to be put in place, the signing of the 2023-24 CACS Teacher Contract by secretary Renee Westover, vice president Brad Lambright, board member Todd Dolley, Centerville Education Association president Brad Ream and chief negotiator of CEA Damon Anderson and a discussion on several building projects.

Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at eweaver@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Centerville-Abington Schools one of 33 in world to receive Cognia School System of Distinction