WASC Visit

Dear reader!

Welcome and assalam alaikum!

 

Last week I participated as a member of a WASC Visiting Team for 4 days in a nearby city. The team was assigned to visit a school and make accreditation recommendation to WASC. I worked with 3 other educators from diverse backgrounds visiting the school, reading their self-study report, and meeting with stakeholders to verify the content. Finally we wrote our own report and made our recommendations to WASC.

I really like the WASC process and I believe it is very beneficial. When I was the self-study coordinator in 2002, I saw firsthand how this process helped us evaluate our school and identify its areas of strength and areas of growth. Based on the later we wrote a 6-year action plan to address the school needs. WASC offers a sound detailed process and send educators from other schools to review your findings. Even though it's a lengthy and tedious process, when done properly, the WASC process really helps schools to improve.

Participating in the WASC process as a Visiting Team member has its benefits too. It allowed me to get to know another school on a much deeper level. This was eye-opening to me to see the similarities and differences among schools. I interviewed parents, students, teachers, staff, administrators and board members. This opened my eyes to what the different groups value and look for in a school. Finally I worked closely with 3 other educators; we basically were together for about 12 hours every day meeting people, discussing findings, reading and writing the report and eating and drinking. Very enriching experience!

Nihad Mourad

P.S. WASC is Western Association For Schools and Colleges