Writing the NEASC Self-Study Narrative

1. Writing the NEASC Self-Study Narrative April – may 2014

2. 1. Analyzing Evidence • Go to “Section III – Analyzing the Evidence, Drawing Conclusions, and Providing Supporting Details” of the Self-Study Guide. • Find your indicator(s) and follow the prompts for “Analyzing the Evidence” and “Drawing a Conclusion”

3. 2. Drawing a ConclusionExample (from Assessment Standard, Ind. 11) • Indicator 11: Grading and reporting practices are regularly reviewed and revised to ensure alignment with the school’s core values and beliefs about learning. • Ask yourself: What does the evidence I have seen show about how RHAM meets/does not meet this indicator? • Write a conclusion about the extent to which RHAM High School is meeting the indicator. Begin your narrative with this conclusion and underline it.

4. What does the conclusion look like in the Narrative? • Indicator 11: Grading and reporting practices are regularly reviewed and revised to ensure alignment with the school’s core values and beliefs about learning. • “The professional staff of Millennial High School has not reviewed its grading and reporting systems since the last decennial evaluation visit.” We will provide you with a continuum of “judgment” terms that you may wish to use when writing your conclusion – you do not have to use them, but they may be helpful.

5. Judgment terms (from neasc) • always • all • sometimes • across the school • pervasive • often • the vast majority • most • by design • collectively • extensively • frequently • in some areas • consciously • deliberately • formally • informally • not by design • occasionally • limited • scattered • sporadically • infrequently • rarely • never

6. 3. Write the justification • Finish the paragraph by explaining evidence to justify your underlined conclusion. • Address the school as a whole, NOT individual departments or teachers in this section. • You may reference departments/teachers by giving a few specific examples • Do not include an exhaustive list of examples

7. What does the justification look like in the narrative? • The professional staff of Millenial High School has not reviewed its grading and reporting systems since the last decennial evaluation visit.The last time there were changes in the grading system the school moved from a letter grading system to a numeric grading system. That was a major change at the time and it was implemented in advance of the school’s last decennial self-study. To date there has been no additional informal or formal discussion related to the current system. However, in light of the school’s development and implementation of a formal process to assess individual student progress in achieving each of the academic expectations that has been in place for a few years, the reporting system has been adapted to include that information on a quarterly basis. Upon completion of the analytic rubrics some additional but minor adjustments may be made to the reporting system. Parents have expressed positive comments related to the manner in which the report cards are designed.

8. For indicators with multiple bullets • Underline ONLY the conclusion statement that states the extent to which RHAM fulfills the numbered indicator. • Each bullet should be represented by a new paragraph, but not underlined. • Bullets do not equal letters. • The letters in the Self-Study Guide are intended to give you an idea about what kind of evidence to look for. You can use these as a guide but you are not required to address every letter specifically in your narrative.

9. THE ENDICOTT SURVEY • We have placed a copy of the Endicott Survey results in your Committee’s “New Evidence” folder. An electronic version is located in the “NEASC” folder on the Y-Drive. • The Endicott Survey results are intended to give you another source of evidence, but it should not trump the evidence you have looked at already. It is also not mandatory that you reference the survey in your narrative. • Remember that survey data might not be as accurate as the other evidence that you have been looking at. (Especially since only 65% of students were surveyed.)

10. Endicott Contents • We suggest that you start by looking at the “Frequency Distribution” for your Standard: • Core Values and Beliefs – pg. 79 • Curriculum – pg. 82 • Instruction – pg. 86 • Assessment – pg. 90 • School Culture and Leadership – pg. 94 • School Resources for Learning – pg. 98 • Community Resources for Learning – pg. 103 • This will gives you the summative (and most useful) results.

11. Other things to consider • Sample Narratives are at times funky. Use the Sample Narrative to give you an idea of what to write, but do not try to model your narrative directly from the Sample. Use the evidence that you have gathered to inform and direct your written narrative. • If there are bullets, there should be one paragraph written per bullet. • The Sample Narratives may not accurately reflect the exact wording of the indicator (they are dated 2011). Defer to the 2015 Self-Study Guide for exact indicator wording.

12. THE LAST THING TO CONSIDER • Remember that HONESTY is the best policy! Do not attempt to make RHAM look better than it actually is. In some instances, we WANT to represent our shortcomings in order to effectively address them in the future.