Accreditation assesses Hall
By Molly Doub

    Over the past year, Hall has been preparing for the accreditation process, in which the school will be evaluated in areas of curriculum, instruction, school and community profile, school leadership, and school and community resources.

    The inventory is being performed according to the standards of the NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges), and acquires extensive gathering of data followed by a self-assessment and appraisal of what could be improved.

    English teacher Phil Freemer, Spanish teacher Mark Grudzien, and Math teacher Michelle Saulis are leading the process.

    “We started by forming committees that every teacher belongs to and will work in combination with committees and evidence to show that we meet standards,” Saulis said.

    Teachers have been creating portfolios of things they would like to submit as examples of their work and send them to the

Photo/Katie Kan

Freemer and Grudzien prepare for the accreditation process.

various committees for examination. Different areas were assessed to determine Hall’s strengths and weaknesses. Since the data has not yet come out, it is difficult to predict what the deficient areas will be. However, Freemer said that, “[Hall will] probably be strong in areas like curriculum and instruction and weak in areas like technology.”

    There will also be a great deal of focus on the school mission statement. Last year, graphics students mass-produced copies of the mission statement so that it could be posted around the school and recited more often as a reminder to both faculty and students of the ultimate goals of learning in the Hall community. The statement stresses intellectual, artistic, social, emotional and physical development in a safe environment and recognizes the diversity of the student body.

    Although it is necessary to periodically re-evaluate, the scope and breadth of the project has made it difficult for teachers. Science teacher Deborah Reilly said that for the accreditation, faculty must “provide examples of how students critique themselves and their peers, ways that we get feedback on our instruction, and ways that we have engaged in reflection on out instruction.” However, Reilly added that “positive things will come of it. By forcing teachers to update and compare they can improve their teaching style. It’s just very time consuming.”

    Some feel that the documentation takes too much time. Science teacher Norman Burtness said, “If we spent as much time trying to fix the problem as we do documenting it the place [Hall] would be great. Much of the data collecting is busywork.”

    Whatever the method used, capable Hall teachers will make the modifications to improve scholastics, the academic environment and the overall caliber of the school.