DIXFIELD – Dirigo High School is in the beginning stages of an 18-month self-study accreditation process, said Principal Dan Hart.

Commencing in May and meeting monthly since October, Dirigo High School staff on seven accreditation standards committees have been performing a self-study of the secondary school.

The committees will consider the profile of the school and community, the school’s mission and expectations, curriculum, instruction, the assessment of student learning, leadership and organization, and school and community resources for learning.

The process is being undertaken with the New England Accreditation of Schools and Colleges.

Hart said the most recent task has been self-study surveys by all members of the high school’s staff and more than 370 Dirigo High School students.

During Christmas vacation, Hart said, the high school office sent out parent surveys to more than 350 homes. The goal, he said, was to receive 100 back, which would total a third of the SAD 21 school’s parent representation.

Parents, he said, were instructed to complete and return the 50-question surveys by last Friday. As of Monday, the office received 98 surveys, nearly meeting the accreditation steering committee’s goals.

“It was an outstanding level of participation by Dirigo High School parents,” Hart said.

The next step in the process will be monthly committee presentations to the steering committee and full faculty, beginning this month and continuing through to June.

“We’re looking forward to accreditation. It’s a great process to go through,” Hart said.

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, founded in 1885, is the oldest accrediting agency in the country. It is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a reliable agency to award accreditation to New England schools.