Dr. Henry Cram, President of the Middle States Association Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools, visited Trinity Hall on Sept. 24 as part of the school’s accreditation process.
Photo courtesy of Middle States Association

By Kate Burgess, News Editor
Dr. Henry Cram, President of the MSA-CESS (Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools), visited Trinity Hall on Sept. 24 to begin the school’s accreditation process.

“Accreditation will be a big step for the Trinity Hall community,” Head of School Mary Sciarillo said. The school started the process in June of this year, as the association requires schools to be open for one year prior to submitting an application, and hopes to be accredited by fall of 2015, before the Class of 2017 begins the college application process.

During his visit, Cram met with administrators, faculty, staff, board members and students to learn more about Trinity Hall and its plans for the future. “He met with us to orient us on the process of accreditation, and his advice was informative as well as thoughtful and considerate to our school setting,” said STEM teacher Kali Lambrou, who is one of the faculty members on the school’s self-study team, which will investigate how well the school’s curriculum and practices meet its mission, while also working to develop tools to measure that success.

“Going through the accreditation process will make Trinity Hall better as a community,” Sciarrillo said, noting that everyone in the community should “strive to do as much as we can” to help in the process. She said students can help by joining committees like the self-study team, by sharing their feelings about Trinity Hall with others and by giving recommendations to better the school.

According to Sciarrillo, Trinity Hall chose to seek accreditation through the MSA “because they allow the school to tell its story rather than have students take a test.” The MSA, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary, is one of the top accreditation associations in the world, “providing validation of educational excellence and dynamic school improvement in traditional and nontraditional schools worldwide” (MSA website). Schools typically go through the accreditation process every seven years (up to 15 times) with a review every three years.