After years, Newtown High School’s New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc, accreditation process has concluded, and it is almost time to begin again.

As NHS Principal Dr Kimberly Longobucco explained in an update on the high school’s NEASC accreditation process at the Board of Education’s September 21 meeting, the original NEASC visit was in October 2015.

Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue was the principal at NHS at the time, but, as reported by The Newtown Bee in 2015, the path to accreditation began before then.

Following a visit during the 2005–06 school year, NEASC placed NHS on warning status, mostly due to overcrowding, as reported by The Newtown Bee in 2015. By March 2011, then-principal Charles Dumais received a letter announcing the warning status had been removed, thanks in large part to the completed high school expansion.

A steering committee at NHS then been working to prepare for this visit. As Rodrigue told the school board at a September 1, 2015, meeting, regional accreditation is a voluntary process and the NEASC visits are conducted by teachers and peers from other districts in the region. While accreditation happens every ten years, Rodrigue told the school board the cycle of preparation for a visit typically takes 12 to 18 months, and preparation includes self-study reports and collecting data for seven standards.

The standards include curriculum, instruction, assessment, school resources, culture, and leadership. Since 2015, different steps in the process have taken place.

By 2017, as Longobucco pointed out, a two-year report was submitted, then in the midst of “everything” a five-year report was submitted by NHS to NEASC in May 2021. The five-year report was accepted in August.

“The timeline is a little off if you are doing the quick math in your head,” Longobucco noted. “There was actually a glitch on NEASC’s submission site... so we didn’t get feedback on our two-year report until approximately six months before the original date of when the five-year report was due so they were very kind and worked with us so we had a little bit more time on the five-year report.”

Longobucco said NEASC’s letter accepting the report shared highlights of some of the things that have been taking place at NHS, like the full implementation of 21st Century learning expectations, the student Capstone Project, the creation of a curriculum writing action plan, curricular coordination and vertical articulation between the high school and middle school, professional development time for vertical articulation, and regular upgrades to instructional and student technology.

“It’s not just a Newtown High School visit, it really is a district visit when NEASC comes,” said Longobucco, while pointing out that NEASC also indicated the importance of efforts like the district’s communication with parents and to ensure an equitable and inclusive school community.

“They were very happy with our efforts, with our five-year report, and our progress,” Longobucco later said.

NEASC also recommended “next steps” before the accreditation process begins again in 2024. Those include reviewing NEASC’s new standards, and reviewing and revising the “values, beliefs, vision of a graduate based on research, multiple data sources, as well as district and school community priorities.”

While saying the high school is looking forward to the next accreditation cycle, Longobucco said, “We have officially continued our accreditation through NEASC at Newtown High School.”

Education Reporter Eliza Hallabeck can be reached at eliza@thebee.com.