Londonderry News

By Dr. Kim Lindley-Soucy, Curriculum Coordinator and Jason Parent, Principal

November, 2010 will mark the decennial visit of the Commission of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges to Londonderry High School. Founded in 1885, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. is the nation’s oldest accrediting association, serving more than 2,000 public and independent schools, colleges and universities in the six states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and American/International schools in more than sixty nations worldwide.

In anticipation of the visit, students, teachers, parents, and school board members completed the Endicott Survey in December, 2008. These results provided LHS with data which individual standards committees used in writing their reports. All members of the faculty participated in writing the reports for the Seven Standards for Accreditation: Mission and Expectations for Student Learning, Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment of Student Learning, Leadership and Organization, School Resources for Learning, and Community Resources for Learning.

Londonderry High School, home of the Lancers, will host the NEASC Visiting Committee. Committee members will shadow select students for a couple of days.

During the 2008-2009 school year, the faculty unanimously approved a Revised Mission Statement and related Academic Expectations. From the revised academic expectations, came an updated school wide rubric. The school wide rubric, currently in use across all curricular areas, provides teachers, students, and parents with a common language to assess students’ achievement of the academic expectations related to Literacy and Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. Comment codes connected with progress reports and report cards have been revised to include an indication of whether students are achieving the third goal of becoming self-directed learners.

Committee reports are being completed, will be brought to the faculty for final approval, and will be compiled into one document to be shared with the NEASC Visiting Committee.

The NEASC Visiting Committee (18 people) will be spending four days with LHS November 14-17, 2010. Their visit will consist of a reception on Sunday afternoon where Londonderry High School will present a video overview of Lancer Nation, mingle with the visiting committee, introduce the team members to the students they will be shadowing, and provide the opportunity for the visiting committee to meet with teachers and parents in small groups. They will also get a tour of the school. On Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday the Committee will visit classes, meet with each of the standards committees and administration, and write a report of their findings, which will be presented to the faculty.