As the responsible agency for matters of the evaluation and accreditation of public school member institutions, the Commission on Public Secondary Schools requires visiting committees to assess the degree to which the evaluated schools meet the qualitative Standards for Accreditation of the Commission. The Commission is well aware that schools which are different may be equally effective. The fundamental premise of the Commission's evaluation program, therefore, is the conviction that an educational institution must be evaluated in terms of the extent to which it meets the needs of current students as they are described in the institution's School and Community Profile and through its statement of purpose and expectations. The School and Community Profile provides comprehensive information on the type of school district which the school serves and the abilities, achievements, needs, and aspirations of the students enrolled. The statement of purpose and expectations affirm the principles which guide the professional staff in the establishment of specific objectives to meet the needs of the students.
Continued accreditation requires that the school be reevaluated at least once every ten years.
A steering committee of the professional staff was appointed to supervise the myriad details inherent in the self-study. The steering committee assigned all teachers and administrators in the school to appropriate subcommittees to determine the quality of all programs, activities, and facilities available for young people. In addition to faculty members, the self-study committees included several parents, school board representatives, students, and citizens. The self-study of Needham High School extended over a period of twenty school months from September 1997 to May 1998. It was the judgment of the visiting committee that the school invested a significant amount of effort in preparation of the self-study documents.