Comprehensive Independent Curriculum Management Audit: Factsheet

WCPSS is One of the Strongest Large School Systems

Average SAT score of 1066 well ahead of state and national averages
SAT participation rate much higher than national average
3,621 students took Advanced Placement tests in 2005-06
On-time graduation rate of 82 percent is second only to Fairfax Co., Virginia, in large urban school districts

State Board of Education has adopted new goals designed to prepare students for life in this century, not the 20th
"Re-normed" End-of-Grade math assessments highlight the need for improvement for all North Carolina districts, including WCPSS
Global competition, knowledge work, rate of technological change mean that WCPSS must be in the business of "preparing children for a future we cannot imagine."

A thorough review of WCPSS's core business: teaching and learning
- WCPSS undergoes annual independent financial audits, not including Summerford Accountancy's independent fraud vulnerability assessment of March 2006. These audits have reviewed the financial and business functions of the school system.
- A curriculum management audit will review the academic functions of the school system.
Two major questions to be addressed by the curriculum management audit:
1. Does the Wake County Public School System have a properly managed instructional program or curriculum that is planned, executed, and assessed in accordance with generally accepted principles and standards?
2. Does the Wake County Public School System conform to the standards of quality in instructional organization which include the following:
  - adequacy, specificity, and scope of board policies and planning?
  - sufficient quality in direction for teaching and learning?
  - consistency and equity in schools and program implementation?
  - effectiveness of program and process monitoring and assessment?
  - use and allocations of budget and resources for productivity and quality improvement?

Based on a business model developed by the accounting firm Peat, Marwick, and Mitchell
Follows generally accepted auditing principles
Used by scores of districts across the country
Uses documents, interviews and site visits as major sources of data
- "The audit is designed to determine the degree to which the written, taught, and tested curricula are aligned and the extent to which all district resources are organized to support development and delivery of the curriculum." -- The Curriculum Management Audit: Improving School Quality (Frase, English, and Poston, 2000)