The Middle States Planning Team, a 32-person team comprised of faculty, staff, students, parents, administrators, alumni, Regents, and Benedictines led by Internal Coordinators Mr. Dan Szelingowski, pictured here on left, and Dr. Jonathan Cote, on right, met for a fifth time on May 15. After receiving input from Delbarton faculty members following the March 2023 Planning Team meeting, the Team finalized focus areas and goals for the next Delbarton Middle States Plan for Growth and Improvement.

Last week, at the final Faculty Meeting of the school year, Cote and Szelingowski shared the final objectives. Objective Subcommittee leaders were selected and subcommittees of volunteer faculty members were populated to build out each of three objectives. Two objectives focus on student performance and one concentrates on increasing our organizational capacity to enact change.

The next step is to develop a multi-year Action Plan of how to achieve our goals by 2031, and to define how to measure our three objectives. We invite you to review the 2023 Accreditation Objectives: Academic Integrity, Student Flourishing, and Staff Development & Formation. This extensive self-study process culminates in a comprehensive written report and a site visit in early Spring 2024 by a Middle States Visiting Team of educators to validate our work. Note that a post-pandemic Middle States Association backlog pushed back our site visit from December 2023 to Spring 2024, giving us even more time to refine our Action Plans (which will be be finalized at the next Planning Team on October 5) and to achieve our Objectives.

Cote and Szelingowski also will submit the School's progress for Technical Review by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. 

They report, "We are grateful for the work of our Planning Team members who have been focusing on this project since Spring 2022 and are excited about moving into the Action Planning phase of our Plan for Growth & Improvement. We would also like to thank the extensive participation we received from many members of the community throughout the data collection and feedback parts of the process. Your input has directly informed the work of the Planning Team in crafting Objectives, and the forthcoming Action Plans, leading Delbarton into the next decade. Reach out if you have any questions or concerns about the accreditation process."

Look for the next update from the Delbarton Middle States Planning Team in September.