By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
The results are in, proving again that Lake Orion High School is among the best in the state of Michigan.
Lake Orion High School was recently named an accredited high school in the state through AdvancEd, a national external review committee and one of the largest non-profit organizations of education professionals in the world.
The high school received top scores, exceeding the AdvancEd Standards for Quality network state averages, according to reports released by AvancEd, previously known by many as North Central Accreditation. More detailed results will be released in the coming weeks.
AvancEd compares compiled evidence to five company standards: Purpose and direction, governance and leadership, teaching and assessing for learning, resources and support systems and using results for continuous improvements.
The school sought the paid services of the accrediting agency to assess the high school’s school improvement plan as well as their curriculum and instruction. A detailed school improvement plan must be submitted to the Michigan Department of Education on a yearly basis.
Hiring the external review committee is one way to assess the improvement plan, Principal Steve Hawley said, which many high schools elect to do every five years.
Yet AdvancEd does more than just accredit the high school. Through an extensive three month process of gathering evidence the school’s actual teaching agenda is methodically inspected and the review committee provides extensive feedback on curriculum and teaching, Hawley said.
‘Any time an organization is reviewed for quality it’s important, and we take it very seriously. Our staff, our parents and all of our stakeholders really came together and did a nice job presenting what we do here at LOHS,? he said.
For three days AdvancEd reviewers performed interviews on staff, students and stakeholders, assessed five years of data, and observed numerous classrooms on the clock.
The initial feedback was very positive.
‘LOHS is an absolute jewel. Not just for this community but for this state,? one AdvancEd reviewer said.
‘All of the stakeholder groups mentioned what a wonderful sense of community we have in the building. We can tell that the community feeling extends outside of the boundaries of this school,? another reviewer told the LOHS staff at the closing of the review process.
Principal Hawley couldn’t agree more.
‘I think anybody in Lake Orion can appreciate that. That’s what this community is all about.?
Chairwoman of the School Improvement Plan Committee Melissa Middleton helped organize the evidence. ‘It’s not enough to say it, you’ve got to show them,? she said, and presented test results, lesson plans, anonymous student projects, minutes from school improvement committee meetings as well as direction taken after said meetings, and other items of data.
While Middleton was not at the high school for the last inspection in 2008, both Middleton and Hawley said the review company changes from year to year, along with the review process, thus comparison is difficult.
There are no real consequences to not receiving accreditation, however, it benefits students in the end.
‘It’s always sound practice for periodic quality assurance for any organization, so we think that’s important and our district thinks that’s important as well,? Hawley said. ‘But additionally colleges and universities look very highly upon schools that are accredited, so when our students apply to different universities or colleges around the state it notes that they’re a graduate of an accredited high school and that carries a lot of weight. So it’s really important for our kids.?
AdvancEd serves as a partner to 32,000 schools and school systems in the country, utilizing more than four million educators and enrolling 20 million students across the U.S. and other nations. AdvancEd was created in 2006 after the North Central Association merged with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and expanded in 2011 with the addition of the Northwest Accreditation Commission.