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SACS evaluates Darlington
Feb 22, 2002 8:00 AM
By Stefan Eady - Faculty
In February, a six-member SACS visiting team visited campus to meet with administrators, faculty, trustees, and parent and student leaders and to take notes for its official report concerning the School’s 10-year accreditation.
At the end of the members' visit, Tom Hudgins, chair of the visiting team and headmaster of The Heritage School in Newnan, Ga., presented a preliminary report to the faculty. “It was, to say the least, glowing,” President David Hicks said.
Of all the things that most impressed and pleased the members of the team, according to Hudgins, they were full of praise for Darlington students, whom they found “insightful, articulate, cheerful, and primed for success in the twenty-first century,” and they “loved the faculty and Darlington.”
“The members mentioned a number of times to me personally how amazed they were by the leadership, friendliness, and forthrightness of our students,” Hicks echoed.
Hudgins’ preliminary report also commended the School for its motto and mission statement and said that the committee admired the manner in which the School's goals and programs intentionally flowed from the mission statement.
Hudgins admitted that the team was in awe and envy of the School Web site and joked about the administration’s unwillingness to introduce the team to its Webmaster, Stefan Eady, for fear that the team members would try to lure him away from Darlington. The visiting team also appreciated the thoroughness of the School’s statistical profile, which is compiled and presented to the Board of Trustees each year.
“We were delighted to see so much evidence of student-centered teaching methods, and your approach last year of inviting peers from other schools to review each department was innovative and bold,” Hudgins reported. “We were also amazed at the speed and grace with which the English House System and the Student Support Team (SST) have been implemented. Those on our team with boarding school backgrounds loved and envied the House System.”
The team’s preliminary report commended the School for its emphasis on teaching writing across the curriculum and in each division of the School, for the quality and range of fine arts opportunities for students at every grade level, and for the plan to add student portfolios to the confidential Web pages. The report was also particularly complimentary of the Huffman Center, as well as the School’s other facilities.
The team also offered three helpful suggestions: 1) broaden the School’s means of measuring intellectual growth, 2) define more specific timelines for the action steps that the School noted in the SACS Action Plan, and 3) engage one another in a dialogue about “student-centered learning,” to build a consensus about what that concept really entails.
Darlington’s SACS School Improvement Process is the result of in-depth work done by David Powell, chair of the steering committee, and the following faculty: David Rhodes, Sam Moss, Sally Rudert, Diane Lumpkin, Mark Tayloe, Casey Zimmer, Dan Bishop, and Sally MacLeod.
In addition to Hudgins, other members of the SACS visiting team were: Rick Broer, head of Lower School, Memphis University School, Memphis, Tenn.; George Freelin, The Heritage School and Darlington parent of an alumnus, Newnan, Ga.; Dr. Cleve Lathem, director of studies, McCallie School; the Rev. John Merchant, headmaster, St. George’s Episcopal School, Milner, Ga.; and Jane Palmer, director of student services, Rome City School.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accredits more than 12,000 public and private educational institutions, from pre-kindergarten through university level, in the Southeast and in Latin America. Member institutions regularly perform comprehensive self-evaluations to assist them in planning for improvement and to assure the public of their overall quality. SACS is one of only six such regional accrediting organizations in the U.S. recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Member institutions are accredited through one of SACS’ three commissions, the Commission on Secondary and Middle Schools, the Commission on Elementary and Middle Schools, and the Commission on Colleges.
At the end of the members' visit, Tom Hudgins, chair of the visiting team and headmaster of The Heritage School in Newnan, Ga., presented a preliminary report to the faculty. “It was, to say the least, glowing,” President David Hicks said.
Of all the things that most impressed and pleased the members of the team, according to Hudgins, they were full of praise for Darlington students, whom they found “insightful, articulate, cheerful, and primed for success in the twenty-first century,” and they “loved the faculty and Darlington.”
“The members mentioned a number of times to me personally how amazed they were by the leadership, friendliness, and forthrightness of our students,” Hicks echoed.
Hudgins’ preliminary report also commended the School for its motto and mission statement and said that the committee admired the manner in which the School's goals and programs intentionally flowed from the mission statement.
Hudgins admitted that the team was in awe and envy of the School Web site and joked about the administration’s unwillingness to introduce the team to its Webmaster, Stefan Eady, for fear that the team members would try to lure him away from Darlington. The visiting team also appreciated the thoroughness of the School’s statistical profile, which is compiled and presented to the Board of Trustees each year.
“We were delighted to see so much evidence of student-centered teaching methods, and your approach last year of inviting peers from other schools to review each department was innovative and bold,” Hudgins reported. “We were also amazed at the speed and grace with which the English House System and the Student Support Team (SST) have been implemented. Those on our team with boarding school backgrounds loved and envied the House System.”
The team’s preliminary report commended the School for its emphasis on teaching writing across the curriculum and in each division of the School, for the quality and range of fine arts opportunities for students at every grade level, and for the plan to add student portfolios to the confidential Web pages. The report was also particularly complimentary of the Huffman Center, as well as the School’s other facilities.
The team also offered three helpful suggestions: 1) broaden the School’s means of measuring intellectual growth, 2) define more specific timelines for the action steps that the School noted in the SACS Action Plan, and 3) engage one another in a dialogue about “student-centered learning,” to build a consensus about what that concept really entails.
Darlington’s SACS School Improvement Process is the result of in-depth work done by David Powell, chair of the steering committee, and the following faculty: David Rhodes, Sam Moss, Sally Rudert, Diane Lumpkin, Mark Tayloe, Casey Zimmer, Dan Bishop, and Sally MacLeod.
In addition to Hudgins, other members of the SACS visiting team were: Rick Broer, head of Lower School, Memphis University School, Memphis, Tenn.; George Freelin, The Heritage School and Darlington parent of an alumnus, Newnan, Ga.; Dr. Cleve Lathem, director of studies, McCallie School; the Rev. John Merchant, headmaster, St. George’s Episcopal School, Milner, Ga.; and Jane Palmer, director of student services, Rome City School.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accredits more than 12,000 public and private educational institutions, from pre-kindergarten through university level, in the Southeast and in Latin America. Member institutions regularly perform comprehensive self-evaluations to assist them in planning for improvement and to assure the public of their overall quality. SACS is one of only six such regional accrediting organizations in the U.S. recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Member institutions are accredited through one of SACS’ three commissions, the Commission on Secondary and Middle Schools, the Commission on Elementary and Middle Schools, and the Commission on Colleges.
