FAYETTEVILLE — Parents and patrons in the Fayetteville School District will have a chance to speak up about the district’s curriculum today and Thursday in a process designed to determine how students are taught and how that’s measured.
Focus groups are scheduled from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Fayetteville High School cafeteria as part of a curriculum management audit being conducted under contract with Phi Delta Kappa, an international educators’ service group.
The group is the same one that audited the curriculum in the Rogers School District earlier his year.
The four-member audit team, headed by retired Florida educator Audrey Haines, will spend today, Thursday and Friday visiting classrooms, parents, community leaders and district and building administrators and teachers in what Linda Auman, chief academic officer for Fayetteville, refers to as data-gathering.
The information the site team is looking for is “what teachers teach, how they teach it and how it’s assessed,” Auman said.
A report on the district’s curriculum weaknesses is expected in February, Auman said, noting that the audit is a critical part of developing a 21st century curriculum for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
One weakness Auman expects to be pointed out by the site team: resources are not being spent equitably across the district. The evidence is that only five schools have literacy coaches; nine do not, she said.
Mark Sparks, deputy superintendent in the Rogers School District, said the curriculum management audit in his district grew out of a strategic plan developed by the Rogers School Board and the need for additional expertise to improve the district’s curriculum.
The audit team received some 10,000 pages of information about Rogers in advance of a site visit there. The information included demographics, facilities, board policies, job descriptions and evaluations and other data on school district operations. The team spent three intense days visiting every classroom in every building, interviewing district officials and community members and gathering comments from parents.
The result was a 192-page report.
Fayetteville has provided similar information in advance of the site team starting to work early today. The team will operate in Fayetteville in a similar way to the team in Rogers.
“This was a deficit audit, not a pat on the back,” Sparks said. “They only looked at areas for improvement. The standard is ideal, which can never be achieved. We have a very good road map for continuous improvement.”
Alan Wilbourn, Fayetteville’s public information director, said district officials have an idea of what is good but are looking for more information on the weaknesses.
“Curriculum doesn’t have a voice, yet it’s probably the most important thing we do, Sparks said. “The audit has given curriculum a voice. It’s hard to ignore their findings.”
The focus of the Fayetteville audit is literacy, Auman said, although the team has been asked to also include math and technology in its data gathering.
At a Glance
What Is Phi Delta Kappa?
Phi Delta Kappa International is the premier professional association for educators focusing its work on the tenets of service, research and leadership.
PDK is one of the largest education associations and has more than 35,000 members, including teachers, principals, superintendents, and higher education faculty and administrators.
The mission of Phi Delta Kappa is to support education, particularly public education, as the cornerstone of democracy. Its vision is to be the experts in cultivating great educators for tomorrow while continuing to ensure high-quality education for today.
Source: www.pdkintl.org/index.htm
A Closer Look
Recommendations Made To Rogers
Establish expectations and system guidance through updated and new board policies and administrative guidelines to support quality control of the educational program and system operations.
Develop and implement a comprehensive curriculum management system that delineates short- and long-term goals, directs curriculum revision to ensure deep alignment and quality delivery, and defines the instructional model district leaders expect teachers to follow in delivering the curriculum.
Research, identify and implement strategies to eliminate inequities and inequalities that impede opportunities for all students to succeed.
Establish and implement comprehensive student assessment and program evaluation plans. Support expanded skills in data use among administrators and teachers. Include data analysis in all planning processes.
w Develop and implement professional development policies, rules, and plans that provide central control and coordination for consistency and continuity in student learning, professional development and improvement of teaching.
Systematically evaluate and implement district programs and District Improvement Plan interventions based on reliable measures of student achievement data and other goal-related performance indicators.
Develop and implement a budgeting process that aligns district- and building level resources to curricular goals and strategic priorities. Include systematic cost-benefit analyses using assessment data to assure that expenditures are producing desired results and are directed to the areas of greatest need.
Update job descriptions to provide clear role responsibilities and expectations. Revise the organizational chart to meet audit criteria and improve clarity of functional relationships.
The complete Rogers curriculum audit, including findings, recommendations and other data is at www.rogers.k12.ar.us/news/RogersCurriculumAudit.pdf