Part Two - Guidelines for Sections A-G

The school should create Part Two Self-Study Committees to address Sections A to G as follows:

A    School Guiding Statements
B    Teaching & Learning (multiple committees)
C    Governance & Leadership
D    Faculty & Support Staff
E    Access to Teaching & Learning
F    School Culture & Partnerships for Learning
G    Operational Systems

Please note that, in the case of Section B, separate committees must be created to produce:

• A separate report on each identifiable “horizontal” component of the school, as determined by the school itself (e.g. Elementary, Middle and High School).
• A separate report on each “vertical” subject area, as determined by the school itself, to operate across the entire age range of the school (e.g. Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Creative Subjects, Modern Languages, etc).
• One separate “vertical umbrella” report summarising the findings in the various individual vertical subject reports.

All Self-Study Committees A to G (including the multiple Section B Committees) are required to follow the “Preparation plus Five Steps” approach, using the Reporting Booklets provided by CIS and NEASC. The instructions for all committees now follow.

INSTRUCTION FOR USING THE REPORTING BOOKLETS

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL SELF-STUDY COMMITTEES (SSC’s)

SSC Preparation Step

Collect, carefully examine and analyze all necessary evidence. A list of the typical evidence which may be sought for a given Section can be found in the Appendix to this Guide. These lists are neither definitive nor exhaustive – each school is different, and the evidence sought by the committee will depend on the school’s circumstances. This evidence does not have to be included in the final self-study report unless necessary to illustrate a specific analytical point the SSC wishes to emphasise.

SSC Steps (i) to (v)
Each Committee should record its responses to Steps (i) to (v) on the templates which follow. These templates include spaces for the Visiting Team to add its comments later in the process. The Steps are as follows:

SSC Step (i)
On the basis of the evidence, the committee should rate the school’s alignment with the Indicators for a given Standards using these abbreviations:

WA       Widely Aligned
PA        Partially Aligned
NA        Not Aligned
 
SSC Step (ii)
The committee should then rate the school’s alignment with the Standard using this progressive scale 1-4.

“Does Not Meet the Standard”		“Meets the Standard”
Rating 1	Rating 2	Rating 3	Rating 4
There is currently evidence of very little or no alignment with this Standard.	There is currently evidence of partial but insufficient alignment with this Standard. Considerable work still needs to be done to come into alignment.	There is evidence of generally good alignment with this Standard. There is still some room for further development, and the school intends to address this.	There is evidence of excellent and effective alignment with this Standard. The school has embedded systems in place to ensure that alignment will be sustained.

SSC STEP (iii)
The Committee should write a short analytical summary, with a list of supporting evidence, of the ways in which the school is aligned with the Standard.
If appropriate, but not as a substitute for an analytical summary, cross references within this report or hyperlinks to other documents could be used. Any hyperlink should lead to a very specific piece of evidence, not simply to a general document which would need to be extensively searched by the reader.

SSC STEP (iv)
The Committee should write an analytical summary of the ways (if any) in which the school is not yet well aligned with the Standard and/or of the ways it could improve its alignment still further.

SSC STEP (v)
The Committee should write proposals which will assist the school in its future efforts to address the points summarised in Step (iv) for this Standard.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE VISITING TEAM (VT)

Working on the same Reporting Booklets as the Self-Study Committees

VT STEP (a): 
Give a rating 1, 2, 3 or 4 for this Standard.

VT STEP (b): 
Summarise in list form the evidence (given by the school and verified by the Team, or identified by the Team itself) which supports the rating the Team has given to this Standard and which may lead to any Significant Commendations, Significant Recommendations, or Additional Advice given in the steps below.

VT STEP (c):
Write Significant Commendations (if any) with respect to this Standard.

VT STEP (d):
Write Significant Recommendations (if any) for action to bring the school into better alignment with this Standard  i.e. to move the school from a lower to a higher rating on the progressive scale 1 to 4.
Note – the school will be required to respond formally to these Significant Recommendations in its Two Year and Five Year Reports on Progress & Planning.

VT STEP (e): 
Write Additional Advice (if any) on how the school could further develop to enhance its alignment with this Standard.
Note – the school will not need to respond formally to this Additional Advice in its Two Year and Five Year Reports on Progress & Planning.