LEWISTON — In sophomore English class Wednesday, teacher Esther Pelletier talked to students about the difference between the book and the movie, “The Pearl.”

The Lewiston High School class went over writing styles and vocabulary. They had to know what “expunge,” “extradite” and “gregarious” meant.

On an overhead projector in front of the class were Pelletier’s expectations for students. Also displayed were learning objectives of that day’s lessons.

It’s that kind of teaching, lessons that offer clear and uniform expectations for all students, that will help Lewiston High School become reaccredited, Assistant Principal Michael Hutchins said.

The high school has recently completed a 24-month self-study in preparation for an upcoming reaccreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

The reaccreditation, which most high schools in Maine have, is a big deal, Hutchins said.

“It’s important because it says to a college, ‘This high school is an accredited high school; it has met the standards of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges,” he said.

If two equal students were to apply to a college and one student was from an accredited high school and the other was not, the student from the accredited school would have a better chance of getting in, Hutchins said.

Also, having an accredited high school can increase real estate values because employers and home buyers prefer to live where the high school is accredited, Hutchins said.

Next month, a visiting team of independent, out-of-state educators will spend three days at Lewiston High School, Hutchins said. The team will be at the school from Oct. 16-19.

“They’ll be doing things like reading our report, what we found out about our curriculum, our instruction, our community resources for learning, our school culture,” Hutchins said.

Team members will investigate “whether we are doing what we say we are doing,” he said. They’ll visit classrooms, shadow students, and hold meetings with students, parents and teachers. They’ll ask administrators questions about how students learn in Lewiston.

In the self-study Lewiston High School recently completed, Hutchins said administrators gave themselves a grade of “acceptable,” which is comparable to a B.

The four choices are not acceptable, limited acceptable, acceptable and exemplary.

Given how high school students are taught, he expects Lewiston will achieve that grade, Hutchins said. Students are given different ways to learn and are “shown right up front what expectations are.”

The high school has adopted team approaches, grouping students and teachers so teachers can work together teaching the same group of students. The idea, Hutchins said, is to create “small schools in a large school.”

The last visit from the New England Schools and Colleges Association was in 2001. The high school should find out in March whether it will be reaccredited, Hutchins said.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

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