NEASC Visit Highlights AHS Goals

• April 3, 2026

Anushka Dole || ONLINE EDITOR

Andover High School hosted a re-accreditation visit from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) from March 16-18, as part of a decennial review process designed to evaluate how well AHS supports student learning and identify areas of improvement. 

According to Assistant Principal Alicia Linsey, the process started during the 2023-2024 school year with a visit from the Collaborative Conference team, a group of visiting educators from across the New England area. In preparation for the visit, a team of AHS faculty members and administrators was formed.

“We picked out priority areas and presented those to this visiting NEASC committee … and they agreed with [our priority areas],” said biology teacher Lindsey L’Ecuyer, the AHS committee’s science department representative. 

There were five priority areas that AHS pledged to work on starting in the 2023-2024 school year: developing the Vision of a Graduate, implementing consistent curricula throughout all departments, vertical/horizontal alignment across departments and throughout grades, promotion of school pride, and building infrastructure. 

The Vision of a Graduate outlines the skills and values that the school hopes to instill in every student by the time they graduate. 

Vertical alignment refers to improving coordination between teachers across grade levels to ensure student skills build progressively, while horizontal alignment emphasizes greater collaboration between teachers across departments. 

“[The committee is] working on … finding time in the school day for teachers to collaborate more,” L’Ecuyer said, adding that AHS has begun standardizing curricula to support this effort.  

“There are committees in the school that have been working on documenting curriculum in a consistent format for our core classes … freshman English, for example, [and] biology,” L’Ecuyer said. 

Linsey mentioned that students and parents also play a role in the accreditation process. A team of visiting evaluators—distinct from the Collaborative Conference team—conduct interviews to gather student perspectives on the school climate and learning experiences. 

Although the committee leads the reflection process, administrators are then responsible for implementing action plans based on their findings. In accordance with these plans, faculty members must provide evidence of integration of the district goals.

L’Ecuyer emphasized that NEASC accreditation is more about reflecting on and improving school processes than it is about recognition.

“It’s less of a badge as it is opening yourself up to reflecting on and documenting what you do well and what it’s like setting goals for your school,” L’Ecuyer said.

Beyond internal reflection and planning, the “badge” that the reaccreditation process provides does carry additional, tangible benefits for students. It reassures families and colleges that AHS maintains a rigorous academic program, and that it’s constantly working towards improving learning.

“My understanding is that colleges know Andover High School—they know what our programs are like,” L’Ecuyer said. “[Because] of [accreditation] … they know the kinds of students that graduate from here, and what skills that [they] have.”

Accreditation also plays a role in the school’s ability to receive funding.

“NEASC accreditation is required for eligibility to receive some private, state, and federal grants, loans, and other federal funds,” Linsey noted in an email.

No moar Gramar ! 

• April 3, 2026

Grammarly Removed From School Wi-Fi 

Samantha Sun || COPY EDITOR

Grammarly, an artificial intelligence (AI) powered writing assistant that many students used to fix grammar and spelling, has been removed and can no longer be accessed via the school Wi-Fi.

To ensure compliance with federal laws and state regulations, Massachusetts requires school districts to have a signed Student Data Privacy Agreement (DPA) with vendors handling student information, such as Grammarly. “It came to [our] attention that Grammarly’s product no longer complies with the DPA. The decision to discontinue student access to Grammarly was made in order to comply with federal and state requirements and protect student data privacy,” said Sarah Campbell, an Instructional Technology (IT) Facilitator.

Administrators, program coordinators, and IT department members collaborated to make the decision to remove Grammarly from the school Wi-Fi. Phil Anderson, another IT Facilitator, added that in addition to software complying with state and federal student DPA, it must also be approved by IT for security and compatibility, and be requested by program coordinators to help support students. Cost and performance are also factored in.

Many students and teachers have varying opinions on the matter. Senior Meghna Singh-Joglekar said, “I got Grammarly in middle school, and since then I have mostly used it for spelling and grammar [for] online worksheets and writing assignments.” Now that it has been removed, Singh-Joglekar said that it has made her work less efficient as Grammarly offers helpful suggestions.

“Grammarly can pick up on errors that other spell check tools can’t,” she explained. 

Senior Maddox To commented something similar: “I think that it’s something that shouldn’t be banned because it’s very useful for checking grammar and avoiding proofreader’s illusions,” said To. According to the American Psychological Association, proofreader’s illusions are visual errors in which a misspelling, omission, extra letter, or transposition is overlooked. This is due to a cognitive process called top-down processing, in which the brain relies on context rather than the actual words or grammar. These simple typos caused by proofreader’s illusion can easily be patched up by Grammarly, To added.

On the other hand, Singh-Joglekar added that excessive red underlines can be bothersome when typing, especially when the suggestions aren’t necessary. While the removal has made it less efficient, she acknowledged that spellcheck on Google Docs is still a good tool that helps with grammar and spelling.

While Grammarly has its advantages, it also has points of contention. “In the past two years, the amount of students using generative AI has really taken off [and] these programs are detrimental to their learning and to their growth as students,” said Nicholas Rand, a history teacher and a member of the newly-formed AI committee. 

The committee was formed earlier this year by Principal Jimmy D’Andrea. Around eight teachers have since joined voluntarily. During their meetings, they aim to fine-tune the academic dishonesty and AI guidelines in the handbook. Rand hopes that in the future, the committee will look into more AI policies, educate students on the matter, and provide a framework for educators on AI usage. While they did not take part in Grammarly’s removal, their committee stands as a starting point for future AI discussions in the academic setting.

“When [tools] move into suggesting sentence alterations or alternative language, that’s where it gets a little bit tricky,” said English teacher Rebecca D’Alise. Before, Grammarly operated similarly to spell check suggestions, but as AI has developed, Grammarly started adding more advanced features. The free version offers tone detectors, word choice, clarity, and basic sentence rewrites. Premium, the paid version, offers full-paragraph rewrites, generative prompts, enhanced vocabulary, and much more.

“I know that once you leave high school and college, the industry uses AI. But I think that there’s something about the process of writing and of having it be your authentic voice, especially at this age,” D’Alise said. 

“You can always tell when students are using it because … it doesn’t line up with other writing samples they’ve done,” Rand added in agreement with D’Alise’s points. Rand questioned whether or not students can take true ownership for what they submit if it has been altered by Grammarly—it becomes a fine line between a student’s writing and AI’s writing.

“Writing is a painful process,” D’Alise admitted. She explained that it’s important for students to develop their own writing style and experiment. “We want you to be imperfect, to make all those mistakes, and learn how to be a better writer.”