Ohr Chadash Academy in Pikesville recently accomplished a major milestone in its organizational journey after receiving full accreditation from the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools, the school announced on June 11.
OCA is an Orthodox Jewish day school that enrolls approximately 330 students and has classes for kids ages 2 to 4 in its early childhood center, along with a K-8 program.
Receiving full accreditation has been a goal of the administration for several years, as the accreditation process took three-and-a-half years to complete and now offers the day school several benefits.
“They [AIMS] unanimously awarded us accreditation for the next 10 years, and were overwhelmingly complimentary of the school we’ve built, in the warmth of our community, and how attentive we are, not only to the individuals and the people in our community, but also to creating a professional environment with well-defined expectations and goals to help everybody to achieve their best for our students,” said Dr. Deborah L. Rapoport, Ohr Chadash’s head of school.
Rapoport said that, during the accreditation process, the school spent several years reviewing all aspects of its academic program, operations, finances, policies and procedures to make decisions about how to achieve its mission.
Rapoport said that the process was extensive due to the required input of so many stakeholders, including teachers, parent surveys, student focus groups and the school’s board of directors.
Rapoport said that, over a year ago, the school sent in an “extensive self-study report” to AIMS before the group sent a team of educators and financial experts from the AIMS network to the school for a several-day site visit.
“They spent several days on campus, going to classes, observing the daily rhythms of the school and meeting with individuals to get to know our school deeply. And they wrote up a really glowing report. They loved our school and were very impressed by what we’ve built. And their report includes action items that they wanted us to focus our energies on in the coming year,” Rapoport said.
She added that most of the time the action items are based on initiatives the school itself had said it wanted to work on.
Now, with independent accreditation, the school has outside verification that it meets educational standards, a huge boost for any educational program looking to attract new students.
“Having that external validation tells others, tells our parents, tells donors, tells prospective parents that we’re a school that prides ourselves on excellence, and that’s an important measure for many people who are looking at schools,” Rapoport said.
The accreditation also means that the school’s early childhood center has achieved Level 5 status, the highest possible quality rating from the Maryland EXCELS program, part of the Maryland State Department of Education.
Another benefit of accreditation is the expansion of donor impact because people donating to the school who work at an organization that have matching gift programs are now eligible to get their donation matched by their employer.
The school is also now eligible for several federal grants and can sponsor J-1 visas, which allow nonimmigration entry for people participating in educational or cultural exchange programs.
Rapoport said these visas could be used to bring in Israeli teachers for the students and staff to interact with and learn from.
And being a member of AIMS also allows Ohr Chadash to access an array of professional development and employment resources to assist faculty, in addition to benefits it receives as a member of the Baltimore Association of Jewish Day Schools, Jewish Educational Services and Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools.
The impact of the accreditation will be felt throughout the school, especially in the classroom, where students are receiving the foundations of a lifelong Jewish education to help prepare them for a difficult world.
“We as an Orthodox Jewish day school have a critically important role to play in educating our children to understand themselves as Torah-observant Jews, as Jewish adults who will go out in the world and make a difference for Israel, to make a difference for the world, because of the foundation we’ve provided them at OCA,” Rapoport said.
Rapoport added that the accreditation helps the school achieve the goal of providing the very best educational experience for students so they can go out in the world and be proud of who they are as Jews.
And while it’s taken a long time and tireless effort to achieve, the effort to become accredited was worth it, Rapoport said.
“This process was very challenging and a real marathon, but it’s enormously gratifying to have reached the goal that we set for ourselves and to celebrate that massive accomplishment,” Rapoport said.
