The entire Catholic school system in the Archdiocese of Chicago has received a recommendation for AdvancED School System Accreditation after a two-year internal review process. For the first time in history, all 240 Catholic schools in the archdiocese will be accredited through AdvancED, the world’s largest education community. Each year Catholic school elementary students in the Archdiocese of Chicago outpace state and national averages on standardized tests and average student attendance rates are just under 97 percent. At the high school level, ACT scores have continued to rise for four straight years. In 2014, the students’ ACT composite score was 23.3; 2.6 points above the Illinois state average. Ninety-eight percent of Catholic high school seniors graduate and 96 percent of those students continue on to postsecondary education. “While our archdiocese has more Blue Ribbon schools than any U.S. system of any kind, we are also proud that our students demonstrate an unwavering commitment to service and social justice,” said Archbishop Cupich. “Over the past 160 years the archdiocese has educated more than 1 million children, and this independent accreditation validates that our tradition of excellence continues today.” As part of the in-depth AdvancED accreditation process that surpasses state standards, a group of educators, school administrators and superintendents from around the nation spent four days evaluating the Archdiocese of Chicago system and its school improvement efforts. The review included interviews with individuals, including parents, students, teachers, principals and board members. Following a thorough evaluation of their findings, the team found that Office of Catholic Schools met the requirements for accreditation and announced that it will recommend the school system for AdvancED School System Accreditation. As part of the accreditation process, the office must report to AdvancED its progress in addressing the team’s Improvement Priorities within two years and participate in a comprehensive review every five years. “AdvancED recognizes the historical and modern-day impact of Catholic schools in and around Chicago. We commend the Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools for their commitment to the power of systems thinking; as well as their knowledge of the important interdependencies that exist between, and among, the individual schools that comprise the system,” said David Hurst, deputy chief accreditation officer at AdvancED.