The terminology of “levels” will no longer be used in Andover’s responses to student violations of community standards. Instead, the term “Pathway” will be used when describing existing responses such as Dean’s Responses, Growth and Accountability Plans (GAPs), and Community Standards Conferences. According to Susan Esty, Dean of Students and Residential Life, no changes to the actual system have been made.
Esty spoke to the reasoning behind changing the system’s language away from levels, citing student misinterpretations of Levels being markers of equivalence. Cheating on an exam and possession of alcohol, for example, were both categorized as “Level 2” offenses. Esty emphasized, however, how GAPs — the response associated with “Level 2” — for either scenario would greatly differ.
“I’m not sure that the Level signals what we really were trying to decide: in looking at how we know you, and what your history has been with us, what you need. That’s the crux of what we’re doing… We decided to get rid of the Leveling because it was a red herring,” said Esty.
She continued, “There should be no question about whether or not [the response would be] a Growth and Accountability Plan. It’s the fact that we called it Level 2 that made people question the Level. And really, it doesn’t matter what you call it. We could call it a kitchen sink. The point is not the Level, the point is that they’re getting totally different Growth and Accountability Plans,” said Esty.
Michael Williamson ’25, a Community Standards Representative for West Quad North, noted how the language of Pathways resolved issues from the old language of levels. He mentioned how the new term allowed for a more personalized response to student conduct, offering better support to students.
“The changes in terminology are better… With the old [terminologies], students were assigned a level number that didn’t always match what they actually did, which led to comparisons between students and confusion. Removing the level system and replacing it with Pathways allows for a more case-by-case approach, supporting students more effectively,” said Williamson.
Williamson continued, “Now, with Pathways, the language is more focused on individualized responses. The three responses, Dean’s Response, GAP, and the Community Standards Conference, are tailored to the specific situation.”
Out of 100 students The Phillipian anonymously surveyed, 73 had not heard of Pathways. Anny Wang ’26 pointed out how the change might reduce the intimidating reputation of conduct response but mentioned how many students did not understand what was actually changed.
“Getting rid of the Level makes it more flexible in terms of putting students in the center of it instead of assigning them into boxes of levels. But at the same time it also takes away the hindering factors for some people to commit these things. Sometimes when you say that ‘oh this person has a Level Three,’ it sounds really severe and it hinders people from doing it because it sounds so bad. Without [levels], it takes away that kind of scariness of the disciplinary system, which might be a bad thing sometimes, but it could be a good thing. It also depends on what [Pathways] actually is, what it actually becomes right now, because we are not sure what the new system is,” said Wang.
Andover’s conduct response system underwent a major overhaul in 2021 following a proposal made by the Student Conduct Task Force in the Spring, which replaced the old Disciplinary Committee (D.C.) process with the Levels system and GAPs.
Since then, the addition of GAP2 in January 2023 and this latest shift in nomenclature from “Levels” to “Pathways” have both been part of the Deans team’s continued effort to shift the system from one of punishment to one of restorative justice. In an email to the student body from January 5, 2023, Raynard Kington, Head of School, emphasized this student-centered approach.
“Your wellbeing and growth are paramount. With this as our highest priority, we will continue to look for ways to improve the support we provide. We recognize that we are at the beginning of our shift to a system that will require additional resources to be successful. In the coming months and years, as we learn from experience, we will grow our prevention efforts, assessment systems, and support resources,” wrote Kington in an email to the student body.
Proposals by Sophia Lee ’21, Miles Lincoln ’21, and Bianca Rodriguez Pagano ’21, as well as efforts of former 2021-2022 Student Body Co-President Mary Muromcew ’22 have all contributed to the current state of the response system. Esty emphasized the founding ideals of their work, highlighting how Andover’s goal would always be to nurture and support students.
“We, for years, have been moving toward a response system that is more responsive, that is more supportive… really, the system is intended for people in the room to ask questions, to help uncover what it is that the student needs, as well as have the student identify for themselves, ‘this is what I need actually, I realize I’m not at my best when [this]’ And if they can get to answering that question, filling in that blank, we can help them,” said Esty.
Esty continued, “Where Mary was, and where Sophia was, and all this, it was around cultures of dignity. We’re all human. We’re not separating the good apples and the bad apples. This is an institution of learning, and so the idea is to educate, and so to use a system that is focused on sorting people out, it just doesn’t make any sense in a school setting, especially a selective school setting where you all have so many different talents… Why would we be looking for why you can’t be here? Why don’t we figure out how to help you be here?”
