A Model for Managing the Self-Study

Regional School District No. 8—RHAM High School Hebron, CT

RHAM High School Statistics

1,107 student population

100 certified staff

Rural, eastern Connecticut

Structures in Place at RHAM

Monthly two-hour delayed openingTwo Steering Committee co-chairs with 45

minutes per dayMonthly Steering Committee Meetings Available Teacher-share drive on school network

First steps

• Website (Google sites allow for confidentiality)

• E-mail account

• Survey staff for committee preference (provided in NEASC materials)

• Identify Committee Chairs within groupings

• Contacting parents for committee involvement

RHAM NEASC website

The Indicators (Prior to beginning process)

• Categorization of each indicator’s sources of evidence

• i.e. Administration, Guidance, Nursing, Curricular Departments

Standard 2: Curriculum

Indicator 5:

Effective curricular coordination and vertical articulation exist between and among all academic areas within the school as well as with sending schools in the district.

k. A description of the school’s curriculum review cycle, including the time devoted to the development, review, and evaluation of the curriculum. (District Curriculum Coordinator)

l. A description of time faculty spend in collaboration activities (e.g. PLCs, Critical Friends Groups, Common Planning Time, et. al.) within content areas, across content areas, and with sending schools for the purpose of articulation of the curriculum. (Dist. Curriculum Coordinator AND Curricular Departments)

m. A sample of district K-12 curriculum guides (Dist. Curriculum Coordinator)

Time Spent in Departments (Month 2-4)

• Departments meet to gather evidence to satisfy indicator requirements

• Narrative and concrete evidence

• Determine where gaps in evidence exist

• Solved through Survey Monkey, meetings with specialists, etc.

• Staff Endicott Survey taken individually during month 3

• Instructions for Student Endicott Survey delivered during month 4

Individual Evidence Collection (Month 4-5)

MONTH 4

Each teacher received personalized evidence folder and checklist

Overview of evidence

collection**Student Endicott Survey administered during two weeks

MONTH 5

Individual time to gather evidence and fill out cover sheet

Collect evidence folders at the end of the month

**Parent Endicott Survey administered—notification through Alert Now system

Individual Teacher Evidence Checklist

Middle

If you find evidence gaps

Electronic survey of staff

Second, more focused, evidence collection

When evidence collection is finished…

Steering Committee disseminates all collected evidence into separate folders labeled with indicator numbers and letters

Analyzing the Evidence (month 6-7)

Meeting again as committees to review standard and indicators

Committee chairs assign indicators to pairs (if possible)

Read sample narrative to grasp end-result

Look through and begin to organize evidence

Groups determine and report gaps in evidence

Groups begin to determine the extent to which the school fulfills the indicator

Writing the narrative (months 8-9)

Steering committee liaisons guide committees through the writing process

(presentation made available electronically to all staff)

Writing begins

Strengths and Needs (month 9)

Each indicator group reviews their narrative section to determine areas of strength and need.

Generate draft of all strengths and needs

Self-Study Narrative Revision

Steering committee compiles and revises entire draft for

Obvious grammatical issues

Consistency of formatting

Additions/subtractions based on changed practices

Gaps or inaccuracies in information

Committee revisions of drafts (months 10-12)

Drafts are reviewed collectively for

Additions/subtractions based on changed practices

Gaps or inaccuracies in information

Collective discussion in preparation for the final rating of standard

Strengths and needs list is refined

Committee groups swap drafts for reading only

Executive Summaries

Prepared by steering committee and committee chairs

Rating standards and voting on strengths and weaknesses (month 13)

Committees meet to review their respective executive summary and, using the NEASC rating guide, agree on a final rating (which goes into the executive summary).

Using electronic surveying, faculty members independently review each standard’s list of strengths and needs and votes on which one (for each standard) is MOST significant.

Voting (month 14)

Faculty reads each standard’s executive summary and votes (though individual survey) to approve or disapprove each standard’s section of the Self-Study Narrative.

Surveying allows for commentary to report reason for disapproval

If standard/s are not approved…

Steering committee looks at faculty commentary and revises drafts

Revote takes place during the next month’s delay