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Valley Catholic Middle School Achieves AdvancED STEM Certification
First School in the Pacific Northwest to Earn Certification
Beaverton, Ore.,—AdvancED congratulates Valley Catholic Middle School on receiving AdvancED STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Certification. This achievement is a mark of STEM distinction and excellence only offered to highly effective institutions that prioritize STEM education as a path to success.
AdvancED STEM Certification is the first internationally recognized mark of quality for STEM schools and programs, signaling the growing emphasis placed on STEM education by educators, politicians and business leaders around the world. In earning this certification, Valley Catholic Middle School has demonstrated its commitment to preparing its students for their educational and career opportunities of the future by ensuring its students will have the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in their postsecondary pursuits and as workforce contributors in the 21st-century economy.
In order to earn STEM Certification, Valley Catholic Middle School had to demonstrate adherence to the AdvancED STEM Standard as reflected by the school’s performance across 11 rigorous STEM Indicators. Valley Catholic Middle School’s STEM program also includes opportunities for all students to engage in project-based, hands on learning, participate in student-directed lessons, showcase communication and presentation skills, and make connections to the real world through community partnerships. The certification process provides a challenging evaluation and continuous improvement process, supported by research-based tools and resources. Achieving high scores across the indicators verify that students have been equipped and trained to be innovative, creative and systematic problem-solvers across disciplines.
“We are proud to be an AdvancED STEM Certified School, and to be a leader as the first school to earn the STEM certification in the Pacific Northwest,” said Jennifer Passadore Gfroerer, Valley Catholic Middle School principal. “We were ecstatic to learn that our school was recognized for having an authentic STEM program that has helped enhance the strong sense of community that traditionally draws students to Valley Catholic School. We are excited to see where our students go in the future with the STEM based skills they are learning.”
AdvancED’s STEM Certification Reviewers examined Valley Catholic Middle School’s evidence of quality STEM education that the school provided to the review team beforehand, and conducted classroom observations focused on identifying student engagement and collaboration in the learning process using the Effective Learning Environment Observation Tool™ (eleot™). Reviewers also interviewed key stakeholders such as school administrators, STEM faculty and staff, parents, students, and external partners in order to verify the school’s commitment to connecting students’ STEM experiences in the classroom to the local community and the world at large.
To learn more about AdvancED STEM Certification, contact AdvancED at STEMCertification@advanc-ed.org. For more background on AdvancED’s products and services that support institutions in their continuous improvement efforts visit www.advanc-ed.org.
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About Valley Catholic
With outstanding faculty and a rich tradition of excellence in academics, arts and athletics, Valley Catholic provides a faith-based education and unique learning experiences – in and out of the classroom – for students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Valley Catholic is also home to a respected regional music school with year-round programming for children and adults.
Valley Catholic promotes a strong academic tradition of critical thinking, intellectual curiosity and active social responsibility, preparing young men and women to be lifelong learners and leaders.
About AdvancED
AdvancED is a non-profit, non-partisan organization serving the largest community of education professionals in the world. Founded on more than 100 years of work in continuous improvement, AdvancED combines the knowledge and expertise of a research institute, the skills of a management consulting firm and the passion of a grassroots movement for educational change to empower PreK-12 schools and school systems to ensure that all learners realize their full potential.
AdvancED operates three regional accrediting agencies and serves as a trusted partner to 32,000 schools and school systems—employing more than four million educators and enrolling more than 20 million students—across the United States and 70 countries.