In June, Holy Rosary Academy preschool and elementary school in San Bernardino earned an outstanding six-year accreditation from the Western Catholic Educational Association (WCEA) and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
“When they came for the accreditation, they were honestly kind of blown away,” said school principal Shelley Renison. “They were really excited to see the progress that we’ve made in just two years, especially in Catholic identity and academics.”
The WCEA school accreditation is a process for determining the quality of a school’s overall Catholic identity and educational program.
“They were very impressed with our Catholic Identity because we have so much support from our parish priest,” Renison said. “We had Father [Rafael] Partida came in who used to be a principal, so he understands and he’s involved and is very supportive of the school. He’s always talking about us and we’re really bridging the gap between the parish and the school.”
The WASC accreditation engages in a rigorous and relevant self-evaluation and peer review process that focuses on equity, inclusion, and access to high-level, rigorous learning opportunities for all students.
“There was about a 60% increase across the board in English Language Arts and it was higher than that, almost 70% higher increase across the board in math in just two years that I’ve been there,” Renison added.
The accredidation isn’t the only accolade Holy Rosary has achieved recently. The school received recognitions in the “2026 San Bernardino County’s Best of the Inland Empire Readers’ Choice” contest published by San Bernardino Sun and Redlands Daily Facts newspapers. The school was voted Favorite Private Elementary School and Favorite Preschool in the Inland Empire. In addition, Business Rate, a Google company that runs reviews to see how other companies compare to each other, rated Holy Rosary Academy the #1 Catholic School in the City of San Bernardino.
“That was especially special to have won because we didn’t know we were nominated,” Renison admitted. “It’s a bit of a validation to be seen, I feel like our school has always been the hidden gem of San Bernardino.”
Renison noted that the school has a long history within the community, being built in 1947, and she views these recent accomplishments as the results of hardworking teachers and parents.
“Many people have so much ownership and care and belief in the school, it’s such a positive thing. Every single person is involved, and everyone is just dedicated to the mission of the school,” Renison said. “I always say our goal is college and heaven. We want to get these kids to college and to heaven and to do that we have to have buy-in from everyone and a true belief in the mission of the school, which everything comes back to being grounded in the Gospel.”
For more information about Holy Rosary Academy or enrollment, please visit hrawildcats.org or call 909-886-1088.