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March 30, 2010
Bach Phan
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) had their ceremonious evaluation of the school from March 7 to March 10. The committee members were given an itinerary from WASC coordinator Brynn Osicka.
“I helped organize the teacher input in the report. I wrote sections of the report. I organized the actual visit with the committee. I did none of these things alone,” Osicka said.
The committee was given a tour of the school from ASB members, and in the following three days, they met with teachers and administrations and visited almost every classroom. A student focus group was also included in the evaluation.
The focus group included members from some of our clubs on campus such as MeCHA, Gay-Straight Alliance, Black Student Union and Interact. There were also students from the African American Male Focus Group, the Multimedia Art Academy and a group of juniors who have been in the families program since their freshmen year. They discussed things such as school atmosphere, preparation for college and the standardized tests.
“The chairman of WASC said we should bottle [clubs and support groups that allow a non-discriminatory environment] and sell it to other schools,” junior David Agorastos said.
The report gave out the traditional points of strength. They consisted of our staff encouraging high expectations of students and using assessments, group projects and collaboration to improve achievement. Other strong points were our school’s leadership program, student activities such as clubs and student government. The focal point of many of the representatives was the supportive community, the school’s leadership program and the student related programs that were available at the school. They also applauded the school for using assessment tools such as the Online Assessment Reportings (OARS) to direct our curriculum.
Most of the areas of focus that were around for the last evaluation were met except for closing the achievement gaps and implementing ESLERs in order to heighten academic achievement. This year, the committee focused on developing programs for underrepresented sub-groups and closing the achievement gaps for those groups. This meant getting the communities of those groups involved more with the school. Another area of improvement that was a big factor was the technology plan. Even though the school recently installed LCD projectors, the committee wants to develop a technology plan that will be able to increase learning efficiency in the classroom.
These areas will have to be improved upon the next time that WASC visits. The school’s accreditation is temporary and the number of years is unknown at this moment, but during that time, the school will be implementing changes to meet the requirements.
