Wildwood Achieves Milestone
May, 2005

Ask almost anyone in education about the chances of becoming accredited in less than two years of operation and the answer will inevitably be a resounding “Slim to None.” But don’t tell Wildwood Christian Academy that.  In less than two years of operation, Wildwood has become one of the first elementary schools in the Southeastern United States to receive dual accreditation from both SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) and SAIS (Southern Association of Independent Schools). 

The process of accreditation began long before Wildwood Christian Academy opened in 2003.  In fact, the original plans provided for accreditation before the end of two years.  Even though this was a lofty goal, considering all of the stringent standards required by SACS and SAIS, the founders, Pamela and Larry Ruff and the headmaster, Nancy Hammer, have done everything possible to meet the accreditation standards from the very beginning.   

Nancy Hammer, Wildwood’s headmaster stated, “the accreditation process is very difficult and rigorous.  However, a SAIS-SACS accredited school serves as a critical component of a school’s demonstrated effectiveness and ability to provide successful schooling for children.  A school that is able to achieve accreditation demonstrates a commitment to a process that requires the school to meet a set of rigorous, research-based standards; to engage in a program of continuous school improvement; and to demonstrate quality assurance to its stakeholders through self-evaluation and peer review.  A SAIS-SACS accredited school is part of a national network of accredited schools which have demonstrated success in educating children.  As such, SAIS-SACS accreditation is recognized throughout the world as a symbol of quality in education for students and teachers.” 

“Wildwood has been working toward accreditation since its inception,” said Larry Ruff.  “We have filled numerous notebooks with evidence of compliance and even though everyone at Wildwood knew it was a school of excellence, it was great to hear that an outside review committee of school administrators from the some of the best schools in Georgia and Tennessee felt the same way.”  Ruff said that the accreditation committee’s decision was unanimous and ‘without condition.”  Over several days, the committee observed our operations, our faculty, investigated and reviewed our testing and assessment procedures, toured the campus and reviewed Wildwood’s financial information.”  

“When we were summoned into the media center for the reading of their decision, everyone was on pins and needles.  However, when they announced that we were granted our full accreditation and the decision was unanimous and without condition, there were many tears of joy,” said Ruff.  

Wildwood received many commendations from the accreditation committee including:

(i) the quality and level of education of the staff, (ii) the citizenship of the students, as exhibited by their manners and politeness, and obvious pride in the school, (iii) the control over the scope and sequence of the curriculum and (iv) the creation of a beautiful physical plant. 

Nancy Hammer, Pamela and Larry Ruff stated that “it is great to be a part of this wonderful and supporting community.  We serve children from five counties currently and everyone from Pickens and Dawson counties have welcomed Wildwood and supported all of our excellence in education programs and extracurricular activities from golf, tennis, dance, and drama, to music, archery and fun club.”