We are quickly approaching the time for our visitors from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and the Council of International Schools (CIS), our joint accrediting agencies. Work over the last two years has been finished and we are now preparing our schedule of meetings for their week with us from February 10-16.
The main purpose of this group of visitors is to review our work and then meet with as many members of all stakeholder groups as possible to validate, cross-reference, and affirm our involvement and engagement in school improvement. These visitors are from a wide range of international schools, volunteering their time and expertise to serve as critical friends of the school in affirming our review and action planning process. They are here to get to know us and learn more about the school and how we are striving to become ever better at the way we serve children in the international school community. They want to hear about our aspirations and our process for assuring that the school both meets a set of rigorous standards, and provides for a collaborative process rooted in international mindedness, while aspiring to the highest possible goals of educational accomplishment. Once complete, a report will provide additional insight into our own plans, affirming our success while providing guidance for improving and adjusting where appropriate.
Our self-study was completed for this visit and it is now available in the recent board packet. The link to it is provided here in case you have an interest in reflecting more completely on our comprehensive work.
Once the work of the accreditation process is complete, the real work begins. The board has already considered this document in its December meeting and work on Strategic Planning associated with the feedback from the Accreditation Team will begin in earnest between February and June. Our thanks to all, administration, faculty, staff, students, and parents who served on the various committees and provided their input through the surveys and data gathering processes that helped us to create this comprehensive report.