Housatonic Valley Regional responds to critique issued in spring by accrediting agency NEASC

FALLS VILLAGE — A progress update by Housatonic Valley Regional High School administrators in response to a regional accrediting agency’s report was sent back to the agency for review early last month.

The 18-page document, signed by Principal Gretchen Foster and Career Development Counselor Linda DiCorleto, who chairs the follow-up committee, was sent to the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) June 1.

NEASC head Pamela Gray-Bennett wrote an Oct. 31 letter to Foster citing several concerns, including the absence of written curricula for all but the World Languages Department, an “over-reliance on teacher-centered instruction,� general inconsistencies in the supervision of teachers and “the problematic assignment of evaluators in the teacher supervision and evaluation process.�

The panel spent several days last March looking at all aspects of the school’s program, culminating in the production of a 61-page report on the school’s 10-year reaccreditation. Based on the report and the findings of its visiting committee, NEASC put Housatonic on warning for the curriculum and instruction components of its program.

Foster responded to NEASC promptly, outlining a plan of action to remedy the alleged deficiencies and contesting some of NEASC’s findings. But the Region One Board of Education opted not to appeal the warning status.

“NEASC met in June to reflect on our progress,� Foster said in an interview with The Journal. “They will respond later this summer and let us know if we made enough progress to be taken off warning.�

Formalizing curricula

In their response, both Foster and DiCorleto noted that Housatonic had already adopted and implemented a format for written curricula in 2006, a year before NEASC’s visiting committee filed its report.

Course-specific goals are being identified by using state guidelines and faculty are being further encouraged “to attend conferences on the latest research on different types of instructional strategies which reflect our current mission statement and academic expectation,� according to the school’s in-house progress report.

As for NEASC’s contention — with which Foster disagreed — that Housatonic’s faculty had an “over-reliance on teacher-centered instruction,� the principal said the process of having faculty members produce written curricula for all their courses has in itself given them “the opportunity to reflect upon their teaching strategies and course outcomes for students, as well as document instructional strategies that involve students in higher-order thinking and promote depth of understanding.� Attendance at conferences and in-service training sessions have reinforced these skills as well.

Improving evaluations

Foster has also responded to NEASC’s contention that the teacher evaluation process was “problematic.� The visiting committee had concluded that the school’s practice of having department heads evaluate other teachers could pose a conflict of interest since both teachers and department heads belong to the same labor union.

Foster said she and Assistant Principal Maryann Buchanan have increased the number of teachers who report directly to them in the supervision and evaluation program, although Foster did not specify the increase in the progress report. In addition, both she and Buchanan have implemented “walk-throughs� or informal visits to classrooms. According to Foster’s report, 150 such visits were conducted over the past academic year. Walk-throughs include informal check lists with written notes for administrative discussion.

Academic track system

The NEASC report also cited “the negative impact of the number of academic levels on students’ ability to achieve the school’s academic expectations.� Housatonic has six academic levels or tracks that roughly correspond with student ability and sophistication of material: advanced placement, honors, academic, general, review and basic. Since the NEASC report, Housatonic has eliminated basic. There has been some talk of combining advanced placement and honors, but Foster said it was not clear whether that would happen.

“But we are piloting elimination of the review level,� Foster added.

Improving access

The report was also critical of of the high school for not having a campus that is fully compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Foster attributed the observation mostly to the fact that the school does not have an elevator and that some classes are held on the second floor of the main building. As she did when the NEASC report was first released, Foster insisted that a disabled student could easily be scheduled for classes that meet only on the first floor.

There are, however, a few bathrooms in the school that are being updated to bring them into compliance. Attached to Foster’s progress report was a letter from Ernest B. Sinclair, the building inspector for Falls Village, attesting that the school’s recent building projects were all duly inspected and conformed with the Connecticut State Building Code in effect at the time.

Also, in response to the NEASC report, steps are being taken to clean up clutter that exists in many classrooms and “to provide effective, ongoing and appropriate cleaning for all areas of the school.�

Foster expects a response from NEASC later this month or early next.