On March 21-23 (2021) Zion St John Lutheran School hosted six members from the National Lutheran Schools Association (NLSA) site accreditation team. The members represented Lutheran schools from Iowa and South Dakota along with representatives of Iowa District West and East. The purpose of their visit was to review the school's self-study report and evaluate the school on seven key standards related to NLSA accreditation.
The standards in which the school was evaluated on were: 1) Purpose, 2) Relationships, 3) Leadership, 4) Professional Personnel, 5) Teaching and Learning, 6) Student Services, and 7) Facilities.
These standards were evaluated via interviews with staff, parents, pastors, principal, and constituents of the school. Outcomes related to Christian perspective and student learning were also evaluated through many classroom observations.
Principal Schouten is happy to report that after a thorough evaluation process Zion St John Lutheran School has been accredited by the NLSA, which is also recognized by the state of Iowa. We received an overall score of 2.63 which is comparable to the national average of 2.67 for accredited Lutheran schools. As a school we were able to reaffirm the positive things we are currently doing and also plan to improve in certain areas moving forward so that we can continue, in partnership with parents and congregations, to provide a Christ-centered educational program that educates the whole child.
