Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Tafuna High School PTA president Rev. Fred Mamea, along with two Tafuna HS teachers: Va’a Leupolu and Faamafi Talamoa, and the accreditation team from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges following a welcoming ceremony at the school campus Monday afternoon.

According to the school, the team also met with the PTA and others as part of the WASC accreditation visitation.

Tafuna, along with Leone, Fagaitua and Manu’a are the four public high schools being visited by WASC “because their full accreditation (6 years) is up, and if they pass they will receive full accreditation for 6 years with a follow-up after 3 years,” Education director Dr. Ruth Matagi-Tofiga said yesterday in response to Samoa News inquiries.

“Our high schools are well versed on the Focus on Learning (FOL) process used by WASC to collect necessary data, review and analyze student data,” she pointed out.

According to WASC, the accreditation is an ongoing six-year cycle of quality whereby schools demonstrate the capacity, commitment, and competence to support high-quality student learning and ongoing school improvement.

Additionally, WASC Focus on Learning protocol guides schools into an ongoing improvement process that includes implementation, assessment, and refinement of the school-wide action plan on an annual basis. “Appropriate reports and reviews throughout the six-year cycle of accreditation support this process,” it says.