Evaluating SLOCA: from Self Study to Visiting Committee

WASC was here! If you are a parent, like me (Wei) you may be wondering what exactly does that mean? ACS WASC is the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges. While most public and private schools in our area are WASC accredited, accreditation means that an independent organization is overseeing the direction and processes of our school and also ensures that our students have undertaken the right classes to transfer to other accredited schools and universities. Today we have a brief reflection from our Marketing & Merchandising Director Betsi Ashby on their recent visit. 

By Betsi Ashby, Marketing & Merchandising Director

Many of our families were, for the most part, blissfully unaware of what a colossal undertaking the school had going on this year. Our school’s accreditation with WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) was up for renewal this year—this happens every six years, and there is a lot of reporting that all staff members engage in order to complete. Our staff met monthly over the course of the school year, working in focus groups doing a thorough Self Study with evidence. This includes gathering input from our board, parents, and students who joined in the focus groups, too. The result? A 180-page report! But that’s not all—WASC then sends a Visiting Committee comprised of staff from other WASC-accredited schools to SLOCA for four days to observe, evaluate our Self-Study Report, and submit their own findings.

Why do we have to do all this, you wonder? WASC’s goal is to ensure that all of their accredited schools are creating an environment for students to learn and where every student is learning to their fullest potential. SLOCA was granted the standard initial three year accreditation in 2013, with our first big self-study and visit in 2016. Our unique approaches to much of our education and school makes reporting to a data-driven, standardizing organization challenging. But the purpose of this process is to evaluate our organization’s strengths and weaknesses, and identify areas of growth for the next 3-6 years—a worthy, albeit daunting, challenge.

The team consisted of distinguished teachers and educators from other WASC accredited private and international schools from Northern California.” We had a Head of School, Facilities Director, English/Math and PE teacher and a representative from a Chinese American International School.

Over the course of four days the team met with teachers and staff and also popped in and out of classrooms all over campus. They searched for how well a school achieves its student learning outcomes, with the main questions being:

• Are all students achieving based on school wide student goals and academic standards?
• Is the school doing everything possible to support high achievement for their students?

The answer from the WASC team afterward was a resounding yes, with quotes like: 

“we saw excellent teaching” 

“…done very well…”

“…saw a lot of amazing things…”

“students were talking, even in math”

“Math teachers know about The Odyssey!” 

The main compliment was that we had “Earnest and thoughtful students who care about each other and are highly engaged and committed to learning.”

It was very clear that they were very impressed with our school and we will continue to implement their recommendations to expand our STEAM and high school offerings. 

Thank you to Jennifer Perneel for co-ordinating the whole process and Rachel Low for preparing and hosting the WASC team this year!

*It should be noted that due to COVID, the regular 18 month Self-Study process was completed in 6 months! All of the teachers and staff under the brilliant coordination of Jennifer Perneel pitched in and in true SLOCA form gave it their all.  

WASC has visited SLOCA previously! Below are links to their previous visits in 2019 and 2016.