| Surviving NEASC. |
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by Ann Perham
Writing this article may be a bit premature because I haven’t survived...yet. I’m actually just past the midpoint of a two year process that may be the most important experience for my library program and for me as a professional.
Immersion Learning It all started in the winter of 2007, when an appeal went out on the MSLA listserv for someone to serve on a NEASC accreditation team visit. I wasn’t able to do those dates, but it reminded me that I had promised myself that “I reallyotta” do a visit because my school would be up for accreditation soon. In previous school, I had gone through two accreditations; I had served on a steering committee and had chaired one of the standards committees, but the standards had changed and I needed to reacquaint myself with the 2009 standards. I emailed my principal and before I knew it, I had my choice of two schools and two dates. Pick your poison!
Being on an accreditation team is nothing short of a self-sacrifice, but a worthwhile one. Essentially, I gave away four days of my life. From the time I arrived on Sunday morning until the final meeting on Wednesday, I did nothing but NEASC. “Intense” is the only term that comes close to describing the gathering of information, tours, shadowing of students, discussions and writing of reports. Our team of 16 educators from across New England became fast friends. Many were classroom teachers, two were department heads, and the chair and assistant chair were a superintendent and an assistant superintendent. Would I do it again? Now that I’ve had a chance to step back a bit, I can say “yes” because of the importance of the process. NEASC prepares the team with plenty of materials to read in advance and ample support during the visit so in some ways it’s easier than running a library. I absolutely recommend that anyone looking at their horizon and seeing NEASC should apply to be on a team ASAP.
Backwards Planning Soon after returning to school, I realized that I had a “bigger picture” of the whole NEASC process. For my library program, I knew exactly what I needed to do to prepare for our own NEASC visit. My faculty was in the process of agreeing on the mission for our school and I had the advantage of having seen how “mission-driven” the NEASC process really is.
Then came the fateful phone call, in May of 2007. It was my principal, inviting me to attend a seminar with the assistant principal on NEASC for schools preparing to go through the self study. Little did I know that I had started down a road that would take me on a journey of leadership. When the assistant principal told me he had an offer I couldn’t refuse and asked me to take on the role of co-chair of the steering committee, I was absolutely shocked, but I accepted the challenge.
The fall of 2007 was a series of details, all outlined in a manual from NEASC. From gathering a steering committee to setting up the seven committees, it was detail work that I do well. The team of leaders that we gathered has meshed together quite well. Since our faculty has very few veterans of past NEASC self studies, we have had to learn together.
The Needham High School accreditation visit is November 15-18 of 2009. To date, the faculty has voted to accept one of the standards reports and we have six more to go, with a completion goal of May. We have our hotel lined up to house the team, a budget, and a to-do list that is long but do-able.
Midstream Wisdom Do I have advice for library teachers anticipating their own accreditation?
FIRST and foremost: Continue to run your quality program. If you have shortcomings, recognize them and know that the NEASC self study is the opportunity to have the strength of recommendations from an outside authority.
Read the standards for your year – make neasc.org a favorite on your browser. The chart at the end of this article compares the standards of 2009 with 2011, but the points of emphasis are obvious. When I studied the standards, the emphasis on the embedding of the information literacy curriculum was clear. I undertook a year-long study of projects in the library, charting our information literacy curriculum indicators – which were introduced, which were reinforced. This document is strong evidence for our self study.
STATISTICS are important evidence, although not the only evidence. I have always kept statistics, so I am able to show changes over time as well as verify access of students and classes to the library.
Ongoing ASSESSMENT is a cornerstone of the 2011 indicators. The draft calls for us to “conduct ongoing assessment, using relevant data including feedback from the school community to improve services and ensure each student achieves the school’s 21st century learning expectations.” It’s all about the evidence of learning.
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