Longmeadow High School gains continued accreditation

Date: 1/16/2012

Jan. 16, 2012

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

LONGMEADOW — Longmeadow High School has gained continued accreditation through the National Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), Principal Lawrence Berte announced recently.

The accreditation, which requires a self-evaluation by the school’s administration and faculty in addition to visits and observation from outside educators, “validates the level of education we are providing our students,” Berte told Reminder Publications.

“It’s considered an important part of our professional development,” Berte said. “It’s part of a learning process for us.”

Visiting educators had the opportunity not only to monitor staff, but also follow students to observe a teen’s daily academic life and learning process at the school.

“The kids enjoyed it because it was their opportunity to talk about their experiences and what they thought about the education at their school,” Berte said.

Berte said the NEASC’s report specifically praised the high school for the quality of its students and their expectations of themselves.

“Many schools have expectations. Teachers have expectations, parents have expectations,” he said. “But what the visiting educators noted was that our students are highly motivated with high expectations for themselves. They admired their determination and the way they strived for learning.”

Berte suggested that those findings were the result of district-wide initiatives and approaches to learning.

“One thing that people should understand is while the high school got this award, the district is still a K-through-12 program,” he said. “The students at the high school were well prepared before they got here, so while the high school get the attention, it’s the whole system that needs to be recognized.”

The report also cited strong relationships between faculty and students.

“I think that atmosphere is something that just exists. The kids are very motivated, so we work very hard to give them what they want,” Lisa Alves, foreign language teacher and the school’s chair of the NEASC accreditation steering committee, said. “We’ve built an atmosphere where all have worked together and I think [visiting educators] could tell this is a student-centered school.”

Parental support of the high school was also considered a major strength.

“One of my favorite quotes in the report said, ‘The parents are the biggest cheerleaders for the school,’” Berte noted.

The construction of a new building also boosted the high school’s stock.

“Years ago we were on warning for the condition of our building,” Berte said. “Now that we are building the new high school, we no longer are being warned about that.”

Alves said she also learned through the self-evaluation process that the school’s staff valued the relationship it has with the administration.

“I think they recognized the great leadership we have and the atmosphere of respect and that came through in the report,” she said.

The complete NEASC report is available on the Longmeadow High School website’s administration page at http://sites.longmeadow.k12.ma.us/lhs/admin.