Cary Academy SACS Accreditation Report
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The School Improvement Process at Cary Academy

Cary Academy is an independent, coeducational, day, college preparatory school for students in grades 6-12. The school opened its doors to 244 students in grades 6-10 in August, 1997, and has grown to 566 students in grades 6-12 in 1999-2000. There are 291 students in the Middle School (grades 6-8) and 275 in the Upper School (grades 9-12). The school is projected to grow to a maximum of 672 students (96 per grade) by the 2002-2003 school year.

Cary Academy was founded by two families who were instrumental in providing the 52 acres campus and six buildings and furnishings. Their goal was to meet a perceived need for a college preparatory school of excellence to serve the growing Cary and Triangle area in North Carolina. It was their vision to offer a rigorous and innovative academic program emphasizing English, history, science, mathematics, foreign language, and the arts, with special attention to using the latest computer and media technology for educational support and delivery. This program encourages learning through discovery and in-depth exploration and is offered to students of promise. The open-ended term "students of promise" allows the admissions office to identify students of varying interests and talents to help assure a diverse population of students. A low student-faculty ratio is a key element in the structure of the school’s program as it contributes to the faculty’s ability to provide individualized attention to each student.

Technology plays a vital role in the life of the school and its people. Teachers are expected to integrate technology into their classrooms as a part of the delivery system, encouraging students to do independent work, whether on the foundational or independent research levels. However, technology is viewed as a tool, not an end. Its primary purpose is to enable individual expression and to offer a wide range of presentation, exploration, and information access options to students, faculty, staff, and parents. Computer science itself, while offered in elective courses, is not central to the school’s curriculum.

The school offers an atmosphere of collegiality, mutual respect, responsibility for self and community, diversity, intellectual curiosity, self-motivation, and trust. During its first and second years of operation (1997/98 and 1998/99), students and faculty identified the "core values" of the school as Collaboration, Responsibility, Respect, Exploration, Safety, and Trust. A Community Builders program was started in the Upper School to encourage students and faculty to identify for themselves instances or behaviors exemplifying these values, with the goal of helping students learn to internalize them in their daily behavior.

The school community extends beyond students and staff to families, with the goal of involving parents as full partners in their students’ educations. This will help promote an optimal learning environment for students. The Cary Academy Alliance is an active parents’ organization authorized by the Board of Trustees. It regularly supports classroom projects and extracurricular activities and provides a voice to various school committees. The President of the Alliance serves on the school’s Board of Trustees.

Faculty are expected to be proactive with students, to challenge them, support them, and to model appropriate academic and civic behaviors. Close interaction with students is encouraged through faculty-sponsored clubs and through faculty coaching as many sports as possible. Faculty are also the cornerstone of the school’s advisory program, which operates in lieu of a "guidance office." In their role as faculty Advisors, teachers meet with their advisees to offer academic support and guidance and to provide an in-school advocate for each student. Faculty advisors are expected to have regular contact with parents of their advisees as part of the school’s commitment to open and frequent communication, supplementing the information available to parents on the school’s web site.

The six buildings on the 52-acre campus are the Administration/Library, Middle School, Upper School, Fine Arts Building, Student Center, and Sports and Fitness Center. There are six tennis courts, a track/soccer field complex, a baseball field, and three playing fields. The Fine Arts building houses a large (500 seat) auditorium/theater, a "Black Box" theater, a multi-media Lecture Room, two art studios, a dance studio, vocal and instrumental music rooms, practice rooms and an electronic music laboratory. The Administration Building/Library also houses meeting rooms, classrooms, and a tele-conferencing room that is convertible to a meeting room.

Optimal class size is 16 students. Division Heads have the authority to allow individual classes to increase to 18 students and, in rare cases, to 20 students.

A major electronic network joins virtually every classroom and office on the campus. The school’s Information Services staff is part of a major commitment to providing "cutting edge" technology for research and classroom use and teacher and administrative support. I.S. staff regularly provide training for faculty and staff in the use of application and web-based software and programs.

======Opening enrollment by grade (566 total students)

======Number of families enrolled: 505

======Number/percent of students who are siblings: 163 (29%)

======Number of students from countries other than U.S.: 41

======Number of students not returning, 1999—reasons given:

======1. Description of Financial Aid Program

The overriding purpose of the Financial Aid program at Cary Academy is to ensure that the most qualified candidates have the opportunity to attend the Academy regardless of financial circumstances. We also seek to increase the socioeconomic diversity of the student body and to attract qualified students with financial need to bring specific skills or talents to our school. Information about financial aid recipients is kept in strictest confidence.

Financial aid up to 100% of tuition is provided based on demonstrated family financial need. As a member of the School and Student Service for Financial Aid (SSS), Cary Academy provides financial aid based on the ability of the applicant’s parents to pay tuition. Families seeking aid send a Parents’ Financial Statement (for both parents) to the School and Student Service for Financial Aid in Princeton, NJ.

In making its award decisions, Cary Academy’s Financial Aid Committee (consisting of the Director and Assistant Directors of Admission and the Head of School) considers the recommendations of the SSS. Families who believe the SSS analysis is not an accurate assessment of their needs are encouraged to submit additional documentation. Financial aid is awarded on a "first-come, first-served" basis without regard to race, sex, handicap, color, religion, or national origin. Returning students on financial aid are given priority over new students seeking financial aid.

Three measures are used to help the school understand and evaluate student performance:

======1. Norm-referenced measures of student performance include:

· Results of the Comprehensive Testing Program III (CTP III) of the Educational

Records Bureau, given annually to all students in grades 6-10

· Junior year PSAT results

· SAT results.

Results of studies of these measures appear in Appendix B and Appendix C

======2. Criterion-referenced measures of student performance include:

· College acceptances

· Grade distributions

· Percentage of students participating in athletics

College acceptance data are not available as the first senior class graduates in June, 2000. These data are, however, being gathered and will be published annually as part of Cary Academy’s published School Profile and on the school’s web site.

Grade Distributions are being gathered by course and department in the Upper School for the first time this year. These data will be used in the school’s published School Profile and studied to determine how students are progressing through the school. Middle School grade distributions will be gathered beginning in 2000-2001.

Students in grades 7-11 participated in thirty-four organized interscholastic sports

thoughout the year. There were six teams (3 girls, 3 boys) for students in grades

7-8, twelve teams at the Junior Varsity level, which can include students in grade

8 (6 girls, 6 boys), and sixteen Varsity level teams (8 girls, 8 boys).

Number of boys who lettered in two or more sports = 21

Number of girls who lettered in two or more sports = 26

Cary Academy has seventy-four teaching faculty, including the Head of School who teaches in the Upper School, the directors of the Middle School and Upper School, the Dean of Students, and the Library/Media Center Coordinator who teaches in both divisions.

The overall student-faculty ratio is 7.6:1.

Cary Academy has made a serious attempt to recruit a diverse faculty, one which is not only diverse ethnically, but also diverse in terms of the location of their universities and in terms of balancing faculty with public and private school backgrounds and experience.

Appendix D provides a complete faculty and academic support staff listing with their degrees.

Cary Academy strongly believes in the importance of professional development. It is essential for faculty and staff to keep current in their fields and nurture an excitement for learning and continual personal growth. The school supports professional development of its employees in a number of ways.

Faculty and staff are encouraged to pursue one external (occurring outside of Cary Academy) professional development opportunity each year. While faculty and staff most often elect to attend a conference, seminar or workshop, the school does support other options such as travel and courses. To accomplish this, each year Cary Academy’s budget contains a special line item for Faculty Development. In the1999-2000 year this amount was $86,700, a significant budget item. The budget is distributed between the divisions of the school and each division head approves the use of these funds by faculty and staff in their divisions. Typically, these funds are used for faculty expenses including registration costs, travel, food, lodging, and the cost of substitute teachers.

In addition to faculty and staff having the opportunity to use their allocated funds to pursue one external professional development opportunity each year, they may attend additional conferences and seminars if they are making presentations. Because Cary Academy’s mission involves a commitment to collaboration with colleagues and schools, a line item in the budget separate from the Faculty Development line item has been established to support faculty and staff who share their expertise at local, state, national and even international conferences. In 1999-2000 the school allocated $10,000 for this purpose.

Cary Academy also supports professional development through graduate study by reimbursing faculty and staff for up to nine semester hours of credit at the University of North Carolina rate for successfully completed courses in an approved graduate degree program at any appropriate university.

Appendix H lists the professional development activities of the faculty for 1998-99.

Nowhere is Cary Academy’s commitment to professional development more evident than in the school’s three, annual training programs.

A primary reason for the school’s trimester schedule was the opportunity to build in two, one-week training and development periods between trimesters. In the week immediately following the first and second trimesters, faculty remain at the school while students are on vacation for the purpose of training and development. While staff do join in some of these training sessions (a full-day diversity workshop, for example), most of the week’s events are designed by faculty for their growth. Thus far we have seen faculty improve their computer skills through mini-courses taught by our Information Services staff, they have participated in a 3 day Great Books seminar, attended a workshop on working with special needs students, and designed curricula.

The third annual training program occurs two weeks prior to the beginning of each school year. During this time faculty and staff pursue opportunities similar to those mentioned during the trimester break training week, as well as prepare for the start of the school year.

All faculty are encouraged to participate in non-academic activities with students as a way to encourage stronger student-teacher bonds that ultimately lead to greater trust, enthusiasm, and collegiality. Appendix H lists the 1999-2000 faculty extracurricular assignments.

Faculty are also encouraged to think of implementing the school’s commitment to collaboration by working within our local community. In 1998-1999 faculty were involved in 29 presentations and programs in the local area. Appendix H contains a list of these involvements.

The key to parent involvement at Cary Academy is the Alliance, the school’s parent association. As an independent school which charges tuition to enrolled students, the understands that responsiveness to parents and parent concerns, as well as a continuing focus on keeping parents informed of, engaged in, and supportive of school programs is a requirement for success.

Cary Academy is located on the major north-south artery in northern Cary. Its location places it in close proximity to major roads, including Interstate 40 and the Raleigh Beltline system. Students from several surrounding counties (Wake, Orange, Chatham, Johnston, etc.) have relatively easy access to the campus. SAS Institute’s campus (a multi-acre facility) sits between the school and these major roads, providing a buffer zone between the school grounds and the nearby freeways and lending stability to this high-growth area. SAS is generous in allowing the school to use its facilities, particularly its swimming pool (for the school’s swimming team) and outdoor facilities.

Funding for Cary Academy comes from tuitions and institutional advancement activities. In addition, the school receives a small stipulation from Federal funding through the E-Rate program. Cary Academy is not governed by the policies and programs of the State Department of Public Instruction except for three mandates: standardized student testing at 8^th and 11^th grade, daily attendance-taking, and the maintenance of health and immunization records, with which the school makes a good faith effort to comply. Foundation support for the school and its programs, especially collaborative programs with other schools, has been sought from the school’s inception.

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