Curriculum Audits

Solutions for struggling schools.

Group project by GFC- J. Bradshaw, B. Cobbs, A. Flora, J. Guilliams, A. Hamrick, A. Rigney

What is Curriculum Auditing?

• It provides an agenda for improvement for even the best of school organizations.

• A system’s policies, plans, organizational structure, curriculum equity, assessment, facilities, and budget are evaluated for effective design and delivery of teaching and learning.

• There is no more valuable way to assess the quality of a school system or to improve the achievement of learners.

Curriculum

Delivery Design

Quality Control

Teacher Test

Delivery

Curriculum Audit History

• The first curriculum management audit was conducted by Fenwick English in 1979

• Trained educators in the audit process examine a school district to determine if a school has the capability to improve student achievement.

• Curriculum auditors collect information using documents, interviews, and site visits.

• The curriculum auditors evaluate the school district using the following principles and 5 standards…

Guiding Principles of the Curriculum Audit

• Objectivity – Any two auditors using the same standards and data base will reach approximately the same conclusions.

• Independence – The auditors will have no vested interest in the outcome of the audit.

• Consistency – The same procedures, techniques, and methods will be followed with each audit.

• Materiality – The auditors will have authority to make distinction between what is important and what is not.

• Full Disclosure – The auditors will reveal all information that is important to the users of the audit.

Curriculum Audit Standards

• Standard One – The school system is able to demonstrate its control of resources, programs, and personnel. (Control)

• Standard Two – The school system has established clear and valid objectives for students. (Direction)

• Standard Three – The school system demonstrates internal connectivity and rational equity in its program development and implementation. (Connectivity)

• Standard 4 – The school system uses the results from system designed and/or adopted assessment to adjust, improve, or terminate ineffective practices or programs. (Feedback)

• Standard 5 – The school system has improved productivity. (Productivity)

Following a Curriculum Management Audit

• Written recommendations are included in the report of findings.

• When there has been a failure to meet audit standards in a specific area, recommendations are made with specific steps for improvement.

• Increasingly, state education departments have utilized curriculum management audits because of their impartiality in assessing a system’s ability to provide continual student improvement. Curriculum audits are conducted nationally and internationally.

The Model for the Curriculum Management Audit

Taught

Curriculum

Writ

ten

Cur

ricul

um

Assessed Curriculum

Quality

Control

Assumptions of a Curriculum Audit

At least 3 elements must be present in any organizational and work-related situation for it to be functional and capable of being improved over time.

• 1. A work standard, goal/objective, or

operational mission.• 2. Work directed toward attaining the

mission, standard, goal/objective.• 3. Feedback which is related to or aligned

with the standard, goal/objective, or mission.

Additional Assumptions

• An educational system, as one kind of human work organization, must be responsive to the context in which it functions and in which it receives support for its continuing existence. In the case of public educational systems, the support comes in the form of tax monies from 3 levels, local, state, and federal.

Additional Assumptions

• In return for such support, mass public educational systems are supposed to exhibit characteristics of rationality – being responsive to the public will as it is expressed in legally constituted bodies such as Congress, state legislatures, and locally elected appointed boards of education.

Financial vs. Curriculum Audit

• Financial Audit - The main concerns are safeguarding of assets and reliability and integrity of financial information.

• Curriculum Audit -Evaluation for effective design and delivery of teaching and learning.

Financial vs. Curriculum AuditFinancial Curriculum

Recording Policies

Processing Plans

Summarizing Organizational Structure

Reporting of Financial Data

 

Curriculum

Equity

Assessment

Facilities

Budget

Help for Boones Mill Elementary

• Boones Mill Elementary tested 68 fifth graders on the History and Social Science test in 2001. Seventy two percent (72%) passed the test. The division score was 66%.

• Principal’s Goal—90 % pass the History SOL test.

•Who are you going to call? Call GFC Curriculum Audit Team

SOL’S

SOL’S

Help for Boones Mill ElementaryWhat does GFC want to exist?

Focus group interviews

• “You can’t fix it, if you don’t know what is wrong!” John Busher-Director of Instruction, Botetourt County.

• Meaningful way to gather rich, qualitative information.

• Objective-ask probing questions to staff to gather information that will be used to improve Boones Mill’s overall effectiveness.

• Information gathered puts a human face on accountability (Kruger 2004).

• Focus group interviews are only as good as the questions written. Must ask the questions that will provide accurate and provide information if the curriculum taught is effective.

Help for Boones Mill ElementaryWhat does GFC want to exist?

Teacher Audit

High skills

High Motivation

High Motivation

Low skills Low skills

Low Motivation

High Skills

Low Motivation

Help for Boones Mill ElementaryWhat does GFC want to exist?

• Focus group surveys• Teacher Audit • Student chart of scores to identify bubble kids. • Staff Development• Unit test• Curriculum guides• Mapping tool/pacing guides• Textbook adoption• Lesson Plan format-Unit plan• Classroom assessment-dept/division –teacher• CSIP

Help for Boones Mill Elementary

• In 2002, 58 students were tested and 96% passed the History SOL test. The division average was 77%

• In 2003, 66 students were tested and 92% passed the History SOL test. The division score was 86%. Many schools modeled Boones Mill.

Stelia Wilbourn Boones Mill Elementary Principal

Internal Audit (GFC)

Disaggregate Data

Curriculum Alignment

Study Guide

Teacher Collaboration

PEP Plans

Lesson Plans CSIP

Vertical Alignment

PARENTS

What is Curriculum Auditing?

Curriculum auditing focuses on increasing student productivity. Based on effective

schools research and 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. “Texas Curriculum Management Audit Center, 2004”

Summary ofCurriculum Auditing

• Key Ideas– evaluates a division or individual school for

effective design and delivery of teaching and learning

• Policies and Plans – Visions, Goals, Roadblocks, Internal/External Politics

• Organizational structures• Curriculum alignment and Assessments

– Analysis of data (Today’s schools must be data driven.)

• Facilities and Budget – Curriculum driven budget that supports teaching and learning

• Provides an agenda for improvement even for the best of school organizations

• Encourages communication between all stakeholders– Parents– School Board Officials– Administrators– Teachers– Staff

Summary ofCurriculum Auditing

Works Cited AH

• The Curriculum Management Audit: Improving School Quality. (2000). Edited by Larry E. Frase, Fenwick English, and William K. Posten, Jr.. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press.

• Phi Delta Kappa International Curriculum Management Center. Features of an Audit. Retrieved from the World Wide Web http://www.pdkintl.org/profdev/icmac/features.htm

Works Cited BC

• Busher, John. Personal Interview. 29 March 2004.• Israel, Glenn D. April 2004. “Using Focus Group Interviews for Evaluation

Extension Programs.” University of Florida. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_Pd036

• • Krueger, Richard A. April 2004. “Asking Questions that Yield Powerful

Information.” http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rkrueger/focus_aq.html• McNamara, Carter, PhD. 1999. “Basics of Conducting Focus Group.”

http://www.mapnp.org/library/evaluatn/focusgrp.htm• “Sample Teacher Focus Group Questions.” March 2004. Sun Associates

Educational Technology Integration. http://www.sun-associates.com/eval/teacherfg.html

• What is Curriculum Auditing? March 2004. http://www.curriculumsystems.com/5a_about_audits.html

• The Curriculum Management Audit: Improving School Quality. March 2004. http://www.cesa7.k12.wi.us/schooolimprove/curriculum/5%20standards%20in%20curriculum%20audit.htm

Works Cited

• Notes from “Curriculum Audit” video

• Texas Curriculum Management Audit Center / http://www.tasanet.org/services/tcmac.html

• Interview-Stelia Wilbourn, Principal Boones Mill Elementary.