WCPSS: Curriculum Management Audit Resource Center

Curriculum Management Audit

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February 2011 Progress Report

Detailed Progress Report

In the 21st Century, it's not enough to be a "good" school system.

For all of our strengths, the Wake County Public School System still has a distance to travel to ensure that every child graduates on time, prepared for the future. We need to meet each child's individual needs, whether that child is academically at risk or seeking advanced challenges. Our children deserve a school system that always supports their aspirations. Our community deserves a school system that always improves.

The curriculum management audit will help us meet those expectations. Its eight major recommendations provide a blueprint for making our school system better: more aligned, more focused, more efficient, and more effective in serving our students. Some of the changes can be made quickly. Others will take years to fully implement. Responding to this curriculum management audit will be a long-term project.

Every quarter, Chief Academic Officer Dr. Donna Hargens will report on our progress to the school board, and we'll report to you here.

Progress by Recommendation Area (Staff)

There are 117 action steps included in the 8 recommendation areas. Initially, 47 items were directed at the Board of Education and 70 at staff. The Board has sent 28 of its action steps to the staff. This site tracks progress on staff action steps.

Implement district plans and goals to provide equal access to comparable programs, services, and opportunities to impact student success. Eliminate the achievement gap between ethnic and socioeconomic student groups. Take further steps to allocate resources on the basis of need.

Refocus the planning process to attain improved internal system connectivity in order to realize the strategic direction for the school district

Develop, revise, and adopt board policies and administrative regulations to communicate governance expectations, provide adequate direction to employees, and establish a framework for accountability regarding curriculum management and related functions of the district.

Develop and document a comprehensive curriculum management process. Revise curriculum resources/documents to meet audit criteria and provide improved quality control. Develop single-source primary curriculum guides, and streamline online documents to guide instruction and assessment. Continue use of revised online resources, facilitate access by all staff, and continue the training of administrators and teachers in effective and efficient use of these resources.

Formalize comprehensive assessment procedures to provide data for decision making at all levels of the system. Establish a formalized process for selection, implementation, and evaluation of programs utilizing data that will be used as feedback for revision or continuation of programs and practices.

Develop and implement a multi-year plan that fully aligns district and building level resources to curricular goals and strategic priorities and that includes

Establish a plan for centralized professional development that provides for coordinated training in the essential competencies necessary for effective delivery of the written curriculum, including institutionalization of expectations for instructional best practices and monitoring. Revise the teacher appraisal program to focus on implementation of district expectations and to provide teachers with constructive feedback to improve classroom performance.

Adopt policies governing the management of job descriptions and the table of organization. Prepare and adopt a set of quality job descriptions and a table of organization consistent with sound management principles. Reconfi gure the staff to provide greater flexibility in accommodating growth and to improve support and supervision for principals, staff, and area superintendents.