Self-Study

The school's self-study is a record of important data and its meaning along with reflections about school processes which forms a roadmap to decisions about strategic work identified in the action plan to help better ensure students' learning success.

Each of the affiliate organizations has slight variations in some components of the self-study; namely in the criteria and in the chapter arrangement. For each variation, the process manual provides detailed instructions, suggested procedures, and a clear outline of the contents of the self-study. Some schools are involved in joint accreditation processes. This website presents information ONLY for two processes.

WASC Only Process: This process is designed for non-public (private, religious, for profit, international) schools. It is the basic process for all other variations. Where schools are linked to a religious organization, the Student Support criteria includes the students' spiritual/religious development. Other affiliate organizations have added criteria, altered reporting requirements, and/or made other alterations. Check the ACS-WASC website or the website of the affiliate organization for details.

WASC/CDE Process: This process is designed for all California public and charter schools.

General ideas/support material

Evidence is required to confirm information presented in the self-study. Here are some examples of large chunks related to documents, observations, and interviews.
Interdisciplinary focus groups are organized around the criteria. Here are some thought on that work.
Rather than label them "Key Areas for Follow-up" think about using "Areas to Look at More Closely." This sounds gentler. Remember, you're not obligated to use WASC-ese language. Find the words that fit your school's culture.

Writing - remember you're producing a document that provides first impressions for the Visiting Committee. It needs to be fact not fiction. It should read well. It should be free of mechanical errors. It should dig for the concrete and specific. It needs a support group of outside readers and helpers for feedback. Check out the writing tip included for Visiting Committee members.

What does the finished self-study look like? To see and read samples of other schools' self-studies, do an Internet search on "WASC self-study" (do not use the quotes; use other levels of schools as required; using "public" or "private" seems not to help much. Even with slightly different content, you can learn from any of the self-study reports). In mid-2008, I got 18,800 hits! Yes, some were duplicates, some were too old to be of use, and some were informational about the process or product. However, there were many, many current (2005, 2006, and 2007) full self-studies posted. No value of "goodness" can be placed on any of these; it's an imperfect world and every self-study has strengths. All are instructive at some level. Good reviewing!

Consider binding the self-study rather than publishing it in a notebook. Either spiral or stapled/glued hold up better than the less expensive comb binding. There's a more "finished" look to the product.

First impressions are important. Think about a student-designed/produced cover that supports the school's commitment to student learning.

Acknowledgements

Site last modified & updated June 23, 2008