NASHUA – In July, The Telegraph reported that in the Nashua School District, English Language Learner students outnumber teachers dedicated to helping them by a ratio of 50-to-1.

Officials with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges see this as problematic, as they recommend that Nashua High School South “ensure there are adequate English Language Learners staff to meet the needs of the growing ELL population.”

Despite this shortcoming, the association commonly referred to as NEASC will be granting yet another accreditation to Nashua High School South.

The association points out that officials at the school create an environment which “fosters high academic excellence.”

“In recent years, South graduates have gone to MIT, Harvard and Johns Hopkins. South students have been recognized by Forbes Magazine and as merit scholars. South’s math team has been the reigning champion since 2009 and the school has fielded nine presidential scholars,” the report adds.

It all started with an 18-month self-driven study from the school. The study kept in mind NEASC’s seven standards, which would ultimately assess Nashua High School South’s core values and beliefs about: learning, curriculum, instruction, assessment of and for student learning, support standards, school culture and leadership, school resources for learning and community resources for learning.

“We dug deep and self-reflected on where we needed to improve. We created a self-report and submitted that,” Nashua High School South Principal Keith Richard told Board of Education members last month.

In March, a visiting team of 16 members arrived on campus.

During the course of four days, team members met with administrators, teachers, other school and system personnel, students and parents. They also shadowed students for half-a-day, visited classrooms and interviewed teachers.

After this, the team built its professional judgment on the evidence they collected, while creating a final 98-page report. According to the report, members of the visiting team represented classroom teachers, guidance counselors, library/media specialists, school administrators and central office administrators from across the region.

Within the report, some commendations Nashua High School South received included, but were not limited to: the dedication within the NHHS community that fosters high academic excellence; the wide variety of core, elective and career technical education courses available to students; the extensive work done to revise the curriculum using the Understanding by Design model; the teachers who are highly qualified in their content areas school-wide; the use of E-Block to provide personalized and corrective feedback to students so they can revise and improve their work; the principal’s consistent positive and supportive leadership and student-first focus despite district leadership turnover; the commitment of establishing a system for both English and Spanish speaking families; and the comprehensive documentation that supports extensive compliance with local fire, health and safety regulations.

Conversely, some recommendations received included, but were not limited to: ensure there are adequate English Language Learners staff to meet the needs of the growing ELL population; access and reflect regularly on the core values, beliefs, and 21st century learning expectations and make necessary revisions; provide updated materials and equipment in order to deliver a 21st century curriculum in all areas of the school’s program; connect the 21st century learning expectations throughout all instructional practices across the school in all academic levels; ensure that all teachers share a common understanding of the purpose and application of formative and summative assessments; assess current E-Block structure and improve its effectiveness to ensure consistency across the student experience; and provide adequate and dependable funding to support the overall school program in order to fully implement curriculum, including co-curricular programs and other opportunities.

New England Association of Schools and Colleges officials determined school’s initial/continued accreditation is based on “satisfactory progress implementing valid recommendations of the visiting team and others identified by the commission as it monitors the school’s progress and changes which occur at the school throughout the decennial cycle.”

Richard told The Telegraph when he received the final report, there were no surprises.

“A lot of the things we said in our self-study was reflected through commendations and recommendations.”

He added, “We want to make sure everything we are doing ties into our core values and beliefs.”