By Stephanie Errera
Editor-In-Chief
On October 18th, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges committee will arrive at Westford Academy. The committee will be made up of a chairperson and an assistant chairperson, as well as fourteen educators.
The educators will be separated into seven teams of two that will evaluate WA on seven different standards. The seven standards are mission, curriculum, instruction, assessment, leadership, school resources, and community resources.
Many teachers at WA have been on evaluation committees for other schools. One such teacher is Donna Kavanagh, who visited Wellesly High School in March. Kavanagh was assigned to a team of educators from throughout New England.
Like the team that will visit WA, the team that Kavanagh worked with was divided into seven teams of two. Each team evaluated Wellesly on a different standard.
On average, the team worked from about 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. everyday. Each pair of team members would first evaluate their standard and then write a report on it.
Kavanagh evaluated the school based on the mission and expectations standard. She evaluated student assignments and determined whether or not the assignments connected with Wellesley’s Mission and Expectations statement. She also observed teaching in the classroom and made sure that it followed the Mission and Expectations statement.
The students at Wellesley High School took part in the accreditation process in many different ways. Kavanagh was given the opportunity to shadow one student in order to see what her school day was like. Other students were tour guides or helped to run errands.
WA students will also play an active role during the NEASC committee visit. The chairperson may randomly choose students off of a list and shadow the chosen students. The visiting team would walk through their schedule with him or her.
Other students will be runners. They will sit outside of the team’s headquarters and if the team needs to talk to someone or go somewhere the student will help them.
The NEASC committee may talk to students that they see in the hallways or at lunch.
