What the WASC?!
What is WASC?
WASC is the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. They are an outside body that visits schools to make sure that schools are doing what they should. Accreditation means that the diplomas awarded by a school have meaning.
How can students support the WASC visit?
Be kind. Be generous. Be truthful.
Participate in class, know where to find the Student Learning Outcomes in your classroom, and learn what they are.
Be able to answer questions about the agenda and essential questions posted in your classroom.
There will be WASC team members on campus all day February 25th, 26th, and 27th. They will be visiting every classroom and will be looking for students to share their experiences on campus when asked. All teachers are requesting of you is that you are your bright and shiny selves. Do not be afraid if one of the visiting team members asks you about your classes, or even invites you to a WASC lunch meeting! The members will be meeting with students during 4th period in large groups to interview you about your experiences at Taft.
Are we at risk of losing our accreditation?
Technically, this is the group that determines whether or not we are accredited. However, no, we are not. This is a self-evaluative and self-study process, and the teachers and faculty have been working hard to ensure that our school is putting its best foot forward. By taking the time to look at our school, our teaching methods, and our facilities, and make sure that we have been growing and developing to meet students needs, we are ensuring that students are receiving a quality education that we can be proud of. This self-study process is also the time when we look to the future and our goals for the coming years, and determine what changes we need to make, and how we can best make progress to the goals we identify.
How does WASC affect this school?
Accreditation is important for the school because it gives meaning to the diplomas. However, it also requires that schools use a reflective process as they create policies and make decisions on campus. What this means is the school has a report from the last full visit six years ago. The report took in the information from the previous visit, looked at the data that was current when the report was written and made a plan for the six years leading to today. The current WASC document takes into consideration the recommendations made by the WASC visiting committee six years ago, the current data, and our goals moving forward.
This is important because the WASC documents inform how many of the decisions on campus are made. For example, a goal from the last WASC visit was to increase the technology on campus and its use in all classrooms. Most students will have noticed that this goal has resulted in more access to technology in the classroom, more technology tools, more assignments that are informed through and by technology use and also that teacher use and understanding of technology has increased. There are certainly other goals, but this reflective process has allowed us as a campus to work on improving things that are important to students, teachers, administrators, and parents.
This has been a long and arduous process for teachers and faculty, but it will all be worth it when we can show WASC the amazing things that are happening on our campus! Thank you all so much for doing your part in making a strong impression on our visiting team. Go, Toreadors!!
First-time senior, long time reader. Copy Editor. Managing Editor. I do all the things.
Kinda.
Miku Endo • Mar 4, 2019 at 3:05 pm
This article was very helpful and informative about the WASC. This article explains the importance of WASC and why their visit matters. Also, I also learned how WASC can affect both students and teachers to make the school a better place.
Sebastian Wolfenson • Mar 4, 2019 at 2:54 pm
This article makes me well-informed. I learned a lot about what WASC gives our accredation on and how it affects our school’s reputation.
Xavier Buschbacher • Mar 4, 2019 at 2:47 pm
Thank you for explaining what WASC is doing at Taft
Kevin Magana • Mar 4, 2019 at 12:37 pm
I am glad that wasc is making sure that teachers are up to date with everything they teach and making sure that the teachers are helping student learn more and more everyday.
Wellington Bristow • Mar 4, 2019 at 12:32 pm
I think that the information given was very necessary for the general public to hear. However you might want to stress a bit more about how WASC will come in and how to act around them.
Julianne Cespedes • Mar 4, 2019 at 12:30 pm
I am glad WASC came to visit our school. When they came, tey assured us that our diplomas are worth something and will help us get where we want to be and become successful in life. WASC also came and made sure that we are doing well academically as a school. Taft is also ensuring that students are getting a good education.
cristobal jasso • Mar 4, 2019 at 11:26 am
WASC is the Western Association of Schools and Colleges that come to our school and go into classes and see how students interact with one another. Wasc comes for three days and they see if our school can be accreditation and if the school does not get accreditation then that means our diploma won´t mean as much anymore.
Marilyn E Silva • Mar 4, 2019 at 11:14 am
This WASC article was very helpful to me. Knowing that Taft is not in risk of not being accredited is nice to hear. This article was very informative because I learned that when WASC comes visit our school, we have a chance to show them how great our school is. However I also learned how important their visit is.
Elsa Batalden • Mar 4, 2019 at 9:48 am
This article was very helpful and informative. Knowing that our school is not at risk for losing its accreditation is very comforting. Also, I learned that the WASC visits were not something to be nervous about. Instead, it was a chance to show off our strengths as a school.
Ethan S • Mar 4, 2019 at 9:24 am
This is a great article. Thanks for explaining the goals of WASC and how their visit affects the school. I definitely feel that I learned more about WASC from reading this article.
Jericho Angeles • Mar 4, 2019 at 9:23 am
This article was very helpful. I knew was WASC was but i didn’t completely understand what they did. This article helped me find out why they’re so important to impress and why we had to present ourselves in a pleasant manner.
Zully Urena-Ponce • Mar 4, 2019 at 9:20 am
The article was clearly well thought out and provided sufficient information that gave the readers an understanding of WASC, lessening worries that could have been brought up.
Max Nosov • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:50 am
Thank you for making this article. It helped me understand about WASC and their impact on the school.
Sarah Torres • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:31 am
Thank you for writing this article. I learned what WASC is and how it can affect us as students and even in our future.
Ayden Cantor • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:26 am
I feel this article was very informing. I myself was not worried about the school not getting accredited, but I did have friends that were worried. I feel if they had read this article they would feel more secure knowing that the school would get accredited. I know what WASC does, but the section How does WASC effect this school really helped me understand in a greater depth what they do.
Aiden Agustin • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:22 am
The article was very well thought out and informed. I liked how you referenced a past WASC visit to show what good it has done for the school in the past. You utilized information that I didn´t know before and furthered my understanding of the subject
Elisha Cho • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:22 am
This article is a great resource and reminder of what WASC is. This article was very useful in the way that it tells us how to act and what to do when WASC comes. This article is a really good way to spread word of what WASC is and there importance.