WASC focus groups begin their collaboration
For the past couple weeks, teachers and faculty have been working in groups to compile a report of the school to WASC, Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The purpose of the report is to demonstrate the school’s progress on educational and facility goals that were established by the school during the previous WASC report.
WASC is an association that “helps schools identify and implement school improvement needs and supports accountability,” according to the WASC website. The most important thing about WASC accreditation is that it proves that the high school classes create college readiness.
According to Principal Stephen Lepire, “the classes that you take and you put on a transcript actually will be acknowledged by colleges, so that’s the most important thing on that,” He also said “we actually have some schools in the area that are not accredited and we had students come from them and have to help them […] recover their credits because […] they’re not from an accredited school when they transfer into us and so those credits would not count towards like a UC or Cal State eligibility or any type of eligibility that a college requires in terms of either application or for acceptance.” Lepire later contacted the Panther Prowler to clarify that he was specifically referencing students coming from unaccredited private schools.
The reason behind the creation of the focus groups was to divide the faculty up so that there would be an equal representation of every department and program on campus to ensure that all criterion are addressed by all staff members.
The groups were decided on several factors, as Lepire said, “we mix people up by departments and expertise.” Groups are also determined by expertise, “We don’t want to have a group of people that have never worked on a WASC before…so we also look at experience within that focus group,” Lepire said.
There will also be students and parents that participate in the report via surveys in order to provide real feedback on student and parent needs and concerns as well as areas they pleased with.
Greg Coull, English teacher, is one of the WASC coordinators who presents the report in written form and in person to the WASC review team. The focus groups are a mash-up of different faculty members designed to “engage participants in genuine self-reflection and self-evaluation school-wide which focuses on both our successes and opportunities for continual improvement. It is an accountability process; however, the practice allows us to celebrate our current and past successes and plan for our future achievements,” Coull said.
Kelly Welch, Assistant Principal of Attendance, said that NPHS was “given the highest level of accreditation which is a 6 year [period] with a mid-term review” in 2014. This status means that a two person team from WASC will come by to examine the school and its reports to verify that the school still meets its standards.
Welch’s job as administrative coordinator is to “work with [the focus groups] to keep groups focused and on task with our timeline. We will offer assistance and direction when needed, answer questions that may come up, and work to finalize the report in the fall for presentation to the WASC visiting committee,” she said.
In response to the WASC review, the school has to submit a report every six years. Coull and Welch have been established as WASC coordinators by Lepire for this report who “work together to organize and facilitate a self-study process and then review all materials, ultimately culminating in producing the final WASC report that is submitted,” Coull said.
The accreditation is important for the school because it “helps to assure the school community that the school’s mission is being accomplished through a viable educational program that aligns with both local and state guidelines,” Coull said.Welch feels the work generated from the first collaborative meeting was really positive. “We are making good progress. Focus leaders are putting in a lot of extra effort and we will be ready for our 2020 visit,” Welch said.
