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Curriculum Management Audit

PDK Audit Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Curriculum Management Audit?

A curriculum management audit is a comprehensive examination of how a school district develops, teaches, and evaluates its academic program. In other words, it is a top to bottom, exhaustive evaluation of a school district's core business: learning and teaching. Documents, interviews, and site visits are used to provide trained auditors with a thorough look at the school district against five standards in a rigorous review based on a generally accepted auditing model developed by the accounting firm Peat Marwick & Mitchell.

Why did the superintendent call for a curriculum management audit?

The Wake County Public School System is strong and competitive when compared to its peers across the nation. However, Superintendent Del Burns wanted a deeper study of the school system's opportunities for improvement.

"I called for this independent audit to have our system measured against world-class standards for education. We do not want to coast on our past success," said Dr. Burns. "This was not an exercise to pat ourselves on the back. We wanted to see where we had gaps in our processes and alignment so we can move this school system and our children to the next level academically. We wanted and we received the hard look we asked for and will work with the Board of Education in processing and aligning these recommendations into our system."

How much did it cost?

The Wake County Board of Education contracted with Phi Delta Kappa International to conduct the audit for $215,000.

What other school districts have requested curriculum management audits?

Curriculum Management Audits have been performed in hundreds of school systems including large districts such as Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well as smaller districts with fewer than a dozen schools.

How did school districts use the curriculum management audit report?

Superintendents who have undergone curriculum management audits indicated they used the audit to focus the district on its mission, curriculum and instruction, and student learning; create alignment with testing and evaluation and staff development; it is a tool you can use as a catalyst for change; it gave us some real solid, practical recommendations – things we could implement and a sense we could get in control; for people who believe in open, honest communication and sharing information, good or bad, the sharing of this information will be the basis upon which growth and improvement will occur; it gave us clear direction. It reinforced what we knew needed to be done. It also uncovered some things we hadn’t anticipated; it was the first step to bring about change and to make people aware that change was needed; the ultimate person that benefits is the student in the classroom.

Who conducted the audit?

A team of auditors from Phi Delta Kappa International performed the audit. The organization was founded in 1906, and is headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana. It serves more than 500,000 members in the United States and abroad. The association publishes the Phi Delta Kappan, the most cited education journal in the United States, and sponsors the annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. Phi Delta Kappa's Curriculum Management Center offers districts the Curriculum Management Audit, the most comprehensive examination of a school district's curriculum management system available. Governed by the same principles and standards as a financial audit, the curriculum audit determines how effectively the school district designs and delivers its curriculum. The Curriculum Management Audit is based on effective schools research and was developed by Fenwick English, founder of the International Curriculum Management Center. Dr. Rosanne Stripling, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and Education at Texas A&M University-Texarkana led the team of auditors. Information on Dr. Stripling and each member of the audit team is included in the audit report.

What areas did the audit examine?

WCPSS was compared against five performance standards:

What are the results?

The auditors presented 117 findings related to the five standards. These were folded into eight broad recommendations leading to 47 action items for the Wake County Board of Education and 70 action items for the Wake County Public School System. The eight recommendations are:

  1. Opportunity: Meet students' needs equitably, and eliminate the achievement gap
  2. Consistency: Unite strategic planning -- from the school board to the administration to the school to the classroom
  3. Governance: Strengthen school board and administrative direction of curriculum management
  4. Management: Actively direct and support the curriculum
  5. Evaluation: Increase use of data in decision making
  6. Budgeting: Tie school system resources to the needs of the curriculum
  7. Instruction: Unify and enhance training and development
  8. Organization: Clarify roles and responsibilities and increase effectiveness

How will the audit impact learning and teaching?

The audit includes recommendations that we can use to make our school system better: more aligned, more focused, more efficient, and more effective in serving our students.

We have also learned from a question the auditors asked many times: "What resources are available to a teacher new to the system to facilitate their ability to provide quality instruction to all students?" The process has taught us that we have many strong resources for teachers, but our efforts could be better aligned and communicated. Undergoing the audit process itself is having a beneficial impact on our schools. For example, when the auditors interviewed WCPSS Instructional Services staff who support math instruction, they interviewed the elementary, middle, and high school senior administrators together. This reinforced WCPSS's emphasis on ensuring that all of our schools at every grade level are playing their role in working toward our school system's vision: that every child will graduate on time, prepared for the future.

What are the next steps?

Each quarter, Chief Academic Officer Donna Hargens will present Curriculum Management Audit update reports to the Board of Education.