The much-anticipated, comprehensive public report for Cranston High School West’s New England Association of Schools and Colleges, or NEASC, school accreditation visit has been released and is available for public viewing.

It is housed at the Cranston Public Library’s Central Library, the Cranston Public Schools central administration office and in the library at Cranston West.

According to Principal Thomas Barbieri, the report was very favorable with the commendations outnumbering the recommendations made.

“When I first received the follow-up email after our visit, the NEASC chairperson said we should be very proud of our report,” he said. “In 28 years of my own experience in doing these types of visits, it’s one of the better reports that I have seen.”

Barbieri and Cranston West steering committee chairperson Christine Baum emphasized how daunting a task it is to provide a clear snapshot of a school through such a short visit, especially when such a large community is involved.

“I can’t go without saying that the leadership of Christine Baum was instrumental in this,” Barbieri said.

In a recent presentation to faculty and staff, the highlights of the report were examined, including the collaboration which takes place within the school community to “identify and design meaningful core values and beliefs about learning.” Other highlights were high academic expectations, rigorous curriculum and graduation portfolio requirements, and the wide range of personalized learning opportunities available at the school.

Additionally, the school was commended for its wide variety of clubs and activities and supportive, positive, respectful community.

“I knew things were going to be OK on that first Sunday afternoon of the visit when I saw essentially almost all of our staff sitting there in the auditorium in support of our school,” Barbieri said. “All of the students who came that day, as well as the community members who came out, all showed support of our school.”

Baum emphasized that the strategy that Cranston West used in preparing for the team’s visit was a key to their success.

“We started early, we did our homework and found our own strengths and weaknesses and identified those things before they did,” she said. “We were prepared from our self-study and we had no surprises from our visit or our report. There was not one recommendation that we were not aware of from our self-study, and we were really able to capture the life of Cranston West over the past 10 years since our last visit.”

Now that the formal report has been given, a two-year progress report will need to be sent. It should focus on the progress being made on the recommendations given in the report, which include expanding the school’s media center hours and creating more appropriate spaces for confidential services provided by staff members such as the school nurse and school counselors.

The recommendations also include items that are addressed at the district or city level, such as completing facilities improvements.

According to Baum and Barbieri, the committees will begin to make plans for addressing the recommendations in the fall of 2019 and the two-year progress report is due in the fall of 2020.

“We’re really in a good position,” Baum said. “We’ve highlighted where we stand and what we’re working on with our Department Leadership, our Student Leadership team, our Parent Board, and our Academic Environment Committee. They all play an instrumental role in ensuring that we meet all of our recommendations.”

Despite the overall positive report, Barbieri noted that it is important for the school to keep moving forward.

“We want to continue to grow. We can’t become stale,” he said. “We are a great school community that builds a safe, positive culture and fosters student responsibility. From there, we can build anything.”