Milla Chen (’29) & Sophia Yu (’29) Apr. 20, 2023
WASC stands for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Dr. Brown is an evaluator of the WASC organization. He describes WASC as, “an organization that assures schools are at a high quality standard and provides guidance to help schools improve.” Without accreditation, people have no way of knowing the standard of a school. AST is WASC accredited and it shows that we met the quality of educational excellence that compares to other schools around the world. Schools that do not receive accreditation have a greater challenge of having their courses not being recognized internationally, therefore getting into a university can be more difficult.
Dr. Brown became a WASC member by going through training and selection. A benefit of being a WASC evaluator is to be able to go into schools and see different perspectives and approaches to learning. From the most recent WASC visit, Dr. Brown was making sure that the school was following through on the advice shared in a previous visit. Dr. Brown has gained a lot of knowledge from being a WASC member. He has learned how to evaluate schools and that every school has another step to take to be even better (continuous improvement).
Camilla and Sophia had a great conversation with Dr. Brown.
Being an evaluator, he recognizes the great things the school is doing and shares how to approach challenges from a different perspective. He has met many brilliant educators and scholars. One of them really stood out to him was Dr. Marilyn George, the Executive Vice President of WASC. Despite having such a high status and many years of experience, she remains humble, thoughtful and respectful. Dr. Brown describes her as a “guru” and was fortunate enough to co-chair with her on a previous WASC visit. Dr. Brown learned that there is always room for progress and growth no matter how much experience a person has.
April 20, 2023
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