WASC flies under the radar assuring student success
According to USA Today, grades are the most important factor in a college application. But what if the grades that Carlmont students received didn’t count?
Thanks to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), Carlmont is recognized as a legitimate, advanced school where students get credit for their grades, sports, independent studies, and other school functions in the eyes of colleges.
WASC is an organization that works to accredit schools based on how well they are serving the needs of their student population.
“It’s important for Carlmont to be accredited, and the WASC process is a vital part. Without the accreditation, a diploma from Carlmont wouldn't really mean anything to colleges,” said Felix Chen, a senior and a participant in WASC.
WASC accreditation happens at every public high school on the West Coast, and even at private schools in some form.
“For example, if you apply to UCLA you submit your transcript and your transcripts reflect classes from any non-accredited school, they don’t necessarily accept those, so we need to be accredited,” said Denise Steward, an AS English and AVID teacher, as well as a Focus On Learning (FOL) group leader at Carlmont.
The accreditation comes from feedback from the schools in a written review after months of reflection by the school’s WASC board and a physical walk-through of the facility over a three-day period in the spring.
This process is repeated every few years depending on how good the review and accreditation is. For Carlmont, the accreditation comes every six years because it has been considered a strong school during previous reviews.
“It’s like a self-evaluation for the school. Everybody in the school needs to look at what we’re doing, decide how well we’re doing it (how well we’re meeting the needs of the students, the community, the teachers, everybody), and [figure out] what we need to improve,” said Steward. “It’s like a giant school job review.”
Participants in Carlmont’s WASC community are led by two coordinators, Stephen Lucia and Kelly Redmon, English teachers at Carlmont.
Everyone is put into one of five FOL groups and the groups evaluate a school’s assessment, culture, curriculum, instruction, and organization in order to get accredited as a legitimate school.
“We have representatives from every single group we can think of, and they all participate in these meetings. They all have their say as we go through very specific criteria and say ‘Did Carlmont meet this need? Yes? No? Why? How?’” said Steward.
Participants include teachers, administrators, administrative aides, custodians, faculty, an a.m. parent group, a p.m. parent group, students on sports teams, students in AP classes, students not in AP classes, students in ASB, and more.
“Since people who share my idea of school don't typically get involved in ASB or other leadership positions, I felt the need to step up and represent people like me. It's an excellent way to provide information and input directly to the administration,” said Sol Mitnik, also a senior and a WASC student representative.
Including about 40 students, there are over 200 people coming together to provide feedback on the school.
“I think in WASC it’s important to get all stakeholders involved. It’s important for everybody to have a voice,” said WASC Chair and English teacher Stephen Lucia.
The various voices not only talk about where Carlmont meets needs but also where it does not meet the needs of students.
“[WASC accreditors] list some of the areas of weakness that were identified not only in the report but also from them walking around and then those areas become our school goals. They get worked into our individual department action plans and they are addressed over the next 6 years,” said Steward.
In the last WASC cycle, the school identified three critical areas of need.
“One [of the needs] was to improve the measurable writing component in each department, [also] to close the achievement gap, and to provide more strategic academic intervention for students,” said Instructional Vice Principal Jennifer Cho.
Since then, they have implemented various programs and action plans to address these shortcomings.
“One of the programs we created was the Carlmont Intervention Team, so that’s a whole program or process that provides support to students that are struggling in a variety of different ways,” said Cho. “We also revamped the entire counseling department. We used to have six counselors and one college and career counselor or advisor, and now we have seven counselors, effectively decreasing the caseload of every counselor and we have hired a college and career adviser, Ms. Rasor. We identify areas of need and then implement programs as a result or as our response.”
WASC has been around for decades and the school will continue to adapt and meet the future demands of students.
“It’s an ongoing cycle because our school is always changing. Teachers come and go, administration come and go, the clientele we serve change, your needs change. What you need in 2017 may not be what they need in 2030 so we need to continue looking at a school to see where we can change and make it better. You’re never done,” said Steward. “It’s somebody else’s turn next time but I’m glad I did it.”
WASC representatives will be coming by this year in April to reevaluate Carlmont, but the average student will just see people wandering in and out of classes.
Any student interested in having their voice heard this year in order to get their needs met by the school in this WASC cycle, they can still join a FOL group. All they have to do is ask Lucia.
“WASC is about accreditation, but WASC is for the students. We are student centered,” said Lucia.