The first step in the three-step process, Creech said at a Dec. 17 presentation to the school board, is for staff to undertake a year-long self-study with the help of students, teachers, parents, community members and school board representatives.
During the self-study, which will be led by language arts teacher Lauren Fine and science/math teacher David O’Connor, the entire high school staff will look at areas of strengths and weakness and how the school is meeting NEASC’s teaching and learning and support standards.
“The self-study part of the NEASC is about improving what we do,” said Monique Culbertson, Scarborough school department’s director of curriculum and assessment.
The second step in the process will take place Nov. 5 through Nov. 8, 2017 when a committee of area educational professionals visit Scarborough High to, according to Creech’s presentation, determine “the extent to which the school meets the standards and writes an evaluation report identifying the school’s strengths and areas of improvement based on the standards.”
“From the information we get from the self study and site visit, we are going to end up coming up with a two-year and five-year plan,” he said. That plan, he added, will begin to be put into place at the close of the 2017-2018 school year.
The self-study and site visit are aimed at finding ways for the school to make improvements, not just academically but to the school culture in general. Creech served on the site visit committee when South Portland High School was going through the accreditation process.
“The NEASC visit was very crucial to some of the improvements,” Creech said of South Portland High School, which underwent a massive reconstruction/ expansion project to implement some of the NEASC site committee recommendations.
Board member Kelly Murphy said the NEASC accreditation was a “big driver” in the facility update. The high school could have lost its accreditation status had the updates not been made
