Commission on Public Secondary Schools

SELF-STUDY COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

 

To:                          All Faculty and Staff

From:                      Steering Committee, Dick Burpee

 

We’ve found the missing link….the silver bullet…the ultimate way for all of us “Southies” to develop our community, create an atmosphere of collegiality, grow as professionals, and collect hours for recertification all in one project…….the Re-accreditation of Nashua High School – South. This opportunity for us to join together in a common cause comes along once every 10 years (or in our case, once every 13 years!).

 

 Having an accredited high school is important for a number of reasons:

ü       accreditation means college representatives are assured of the quality of our students’ education;

ü       it provides teachers and administrators the opportunity to work together on common goals;

ü       students know their educational needs are met through a quality program;

ü       local tax payers are assured their tax money is supporting a facility and programs that have been deemed  worthwhile by an outside organization;

ü       the school board is made aware their educational policies and plans are sound.

 

We participate in the re-accreditation through our membership in the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). NEASC is a private, non-profit regional accrediting association which offers programs and services, monitoring school performance and improvement efforts. To become accredited (or re-accredited), a high school conducts a self-study of all its programs, and hosts a visiting committee who evaluates the institution in terms of the school’s stated educational goals and the seven Standards for Accreditation. The visiting committee is scheduled to visit NHS-S in October, 2005.

 

It is time to begin the self-study.  All faculty needs to sign-up for one of the eight committees (the seven standards and the School and Community Profile Committee) that are responsible for all aspects of the self-study.. Included in this e-mail is a brief description of the eight committees. Please read over the descriptions and decide which three of the committees interest you most.  On the sign-up sheet, please check three committees in order of preference (1, 2, 3). If you indicate no preference, the steering committee will make assignments as needs dictate.

 

Please bring the sign-up form with you to the April 14 early release meeting. Further information about the committees will be given at that time. The completed form must be submitted at the end of the early release program.

We thank you in advance for the work you are about to do. It will take a lot of time and effort by all of us to produce the self-study document, gather statistics, write student expectations, create rubrics, and embody all of these elements into the culture and climate of Nashua High School – South. Starting now, we can do it.

 

Steering Committee:

Nancy Hilliard, Chair

Sue Henry

Judy Loftus

Debi Migneault

Nancy Morrison

Sarah Paling

Robin Peringer

Jason Tesini

Janet Valuk


 

Name:__________________________        Dep’t:___________________________  Faculty/Staff (circle one)

 

I have checked three committees in order of preference for assignment to work on the Self-Study Committees for the Reaccreditation of Nashua High School – South.

 

Background Information

 

_____    School and Community Profile

 

Standards for Accreditation Committees

 

Teaching and Learning Standards

 

_____    Mission and Expectations for Student Learning

 

_____    Curriculum

 

_____    Instruction

 

_____    Assessment of Student Learning

 

Support Standards for Teaching and Learning

 

_____    Leadership and Organization

 

_____    School Resources for Learning

 

_____    Community Resources for Learning

 

I would be interested in serving on:

 

_____    a committee to write rubrics for measuring the expectations.

 

_____    a committee to edit the self-study essays and document.

 

As a faculty, we need to write 5-7 academic expectations and 3-4 civic and social expectations that every student graduating from NHS-S should successfully complete. Please use this space to write your ideas of what specific expectations we should have for all our students.