Last Thursday, Port Angeles High School underwent the accreditation process required to legally graduate and award high school diplomas to its students.

Educational Accreditation is a process through which a school, the services it provides, and its classes are evaluated through peer review. It helps to insure certain standards are met in schools across the country and that all students are offered access to similar schooling.

Every six years, an accreditation team travels to PAHS to pinpoint and make note of improvements the school can make in its standards of achievement, classroom experience, and communication and message to students. At the end of the day, the members of the team combine their notes and evaluate the school’s performance based on their observations and interviews with students and teachers.

This year, the team was divided into three groups, each charged with observing one of three categories: Teaching and Learning, which focused on classes and academics, Support Services, centered on how students and teachers are supported in doing their schoolwork and jobs throughout the day, and School Improvement, which observed key areas for possible improvement.

The Teaching and Learning team commended the one-on-one interaction between students and teachers and the teachers’ ability to respond to students’ comments, in particular several teachers, “re-articulating the concepts that students are trying to convey.” Other points made centered on communication in the school, “In interviewing staff, the perception was that many staff felt there was a disconnect between themselves or their colleagues, even within their department and with the school administration.”

The Support Services team, which includes library, counseling, health services, and special ed services, noticed the, exceptional services provided with specific Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). A concern the team raised involved the location of the counseling facility and its distance from the registrar’s office. When questioned, the counseling staff felt the two offices’ separation from one another impeded their ability to serve the students. The team also questioned the school’s, “honoring and respecting all kids on all different tracks…who aren’t necessarily going to the four year schools, that are going right to the work force after they graduate.”

Another comment from the Support Services team was on the Special Education program, “The positive is that they (the students) receive great services, the negative is…that there’s almost an isolation with that group. How can we integrate that group more into our school.”

The School Improvement team praised the tolerant, open, and accepting atmosphere of the high school among students, “We observed students playing music, the guitar…and the students walking by…everybody was commenting that they appreciated the music. It was a great thing to see.”

In stating general comments for improvement of the school, the team said that, “In speaking with several teachers it’s evident that trust is an issue among the staff, and staff members spoke of a lack of trust between staff to staff, staff to building administration, and staff to district administration. Many staff members we spoke to expressed confusion about the decision making model at Port Angeles High School and in the Port Angeles School District overall. There was uncertainty about where feedback goes and how decisions are disseminated once decisions are made…at the district level and at the building level.”

The team recommended, “grouping in staff in more frequent ways, and soliciting feedback…discuss the results in a transparent and open way, communicate decisions and express the rationale for the decisions. Take very quick votes in staff meetings that are anonymous, and share the results immediately so that there’s no questioning.”

Each school in the United States must submit to an accreditation test every five years in order to be eligible to grant high school diplomas. It is rare that a school’s accreditation is denied, but if PAHS, or any school, lost its certification its students would no longer be on track to graduate -- diplomas would not be distributed and any classes taken after the failed accreditation process would not count towards a student’s credit. This year’s Accreditation results will be available to the school in the summer of 2012.