LONGMEADOW – There was significant discussion regarding ways to keep Longmeadow Public Schools functioning at a standard pace while finding new ways to improve student success at the Longmeadow School Committee’s April 27 meeting.

The Longmeadow High School underwent a New England Association of School Colleges (NEASC) accreditation, on Nov. 9 and 10, 2020.

According to the NEASC website, “The New England Association of Schools and Colleges is an independent, voluntary, nonprofit membership organization which partners with over 1,500 public, independent and international schools in the U.S. and worldwide to assess, support and promote high–quality education for all students through accreditation.”

As explained by the website, accreditation is not a single event but rather an, “...ongoing, voluntary cycle of comprehensive internal and external assessments, short and long-term strategic planning and periodic reporting sustained by professional partnership and support.” In order to be considered for the NEASC accredditation, schools must apply for candidacy, demonstrate they have basic structures, policies and systems in place to support a “quality learning environment.” If the school is recognized as a candidate for accreditation, the cycle commenses.

The accreditation cycle involves several steps: self-reflection, peer review, follow-up and ongoing partnership and support.

As explained by members of the School Committee, NEASC drives to build school improvement and offers a way for schools to develop an identify solutions that they can feed into district improvement efforts.

Longmeadow High School Principal Thomas Landers is set to create a growth plan prior to December 2022 in which NEASC will bring the school a team of eight to 10 educators. The growth plan will consist of recommendations made by NEASC.

For a specific list of recommendations made by the NEASC to the School Committee, the full meeting video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdtTqkiNmjY. Several points that the NEASC recommended to hone in on were points that the high school identified themselves during the self-reflection period.

A few points being the development a vision of the graduate, to expand the use of common assessments, to develop and implement a structure of grading practices that are aligned with the school’s beliefs about learning and to complete the vision of career readiness.

Landers expressed that he has high hopes to achieve and complete the growth plan before summer break. Landers believes the growth plan will refer to a school improvement plan, rationale for goals, persons responsible, time/resources needed, measurements, combination of growth and recommendations. He implied the growth plan will improve culture and everyday practice.

Longmeadow High School Math Department Chair Meredith Laughlin discussed how she and her staff prepared a report for NEASC and their visit. “The entire staff came together really nicely to write the report and to support. The next year ahead I will ensure you that work implementation will be done to prepare for the 2022 visit. There will be meetings with committees, administration, and students and teachers. We’ll continue the process to work towards our creation,” she said.

Landers indicated that working with NEASC has been a collaborative experience.

He said, “It felt a lot more like they are there to help you, not in a ‘gotcha’ kind of way. It was intense to prepare for, somewhat anxiety causing having to have people looking over your shoulder and see what you do, but they really went out of their way to try and be partners and be supportive.”

During the growth plan there will be an adjustment for a time and resources column that will gravitate toward achieving the goal of making graduates a priority area. The focus will be on supporting college readiness and career awareness while in the classroom. There will be additional support for capstone efforts in which will be real life applicable, build presentation skills and help students receive feedback.

An expansion of a tier–two program started this year – the objective of this program is to have students reflect on their own growth and gain skills such as communication and problem solving. The plan is to have a classroom where students can get direct support in English, reading, math, algebra, geometry and general organizational sills.

Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea said, “This fits well with our emphasis on inclusivity, we want a child experience to be personalized. We want that experience to match their interests such as passions, backgrounds, and all of those things that promote a graduate.”

Currently, Longmeadow schools have an atlas to help reflect what will be applied in certain classes. The School Committee agreed they want to push assessments and be more project-based. Rubrics will be one helpful source as well as a detailed feedback form for projects.

Longmeadow High School Assistant Principal Paul Dunkerley reviewed the new changes to be made to the student handbook. The first alteration to the student handbook is the dress code, which will have less gender based language. They also moved to remove the “finger tip rule” measurement, which required clothing to be at least as long their finger tips when their arms were to their sides.

School Committee member Giana Allentuck said that someone should feel comfortable about what they are wearing and not be shamed for their clothes. 

The term “physical education” was removed from the handbook and replaced  with “wellness.”

The policy of students using electronics has been modified. The handbook now states that “personal electronic devices” are not to be used during class time.

Personal electronic devices that will not be tolerated are smart phones, smart watches, tablets and similar devices. The school has given Chromebooks to all students for assigned work. Chromebooks are to only be used when given permission by teacher.

Lastly, academic honesty was reviewed and modified based on the COVID-19 shift, which included students having to be remote. There will be more consequences as some students who were at home had appeared to be participating in academic dishonesty. Teachers attempted to give more oral tests to lessen cheating, but the issue rose in essay writing.

School Committee member Susan Bell said, “Research about academic pressures, academic stress and strain is absolutely very real and is tied to the exactions of college admissions, grades, competition.” She suggested to think about authentic learning instead of tests and distribute a skill.

Reasons why the committee felt students may be inclined to be academically dishonest were discussed, including the significant pressure for students that are graduating with the expectation of college and status, students are looking at their grade point average constantly, and more.

Authentic style assessments, more project-based and proctor exams were suggested as ways to improve academic dishonesty.

Longmeadow schools have shifted back to in person learning for five days a week. Approximately 85.9 percent of Longmeadow students are attending school in-person.  This leaves 14.1 percent of students still remote, but the figure continues to decrease.

School Committee Chair Ryan Kelly said, “If you see 86 percent of our students coming in person, it’s very important for everyone to continue to following the changing CDC rules about staying healthy.”