WCPSS Charts Progress on Curriculum Management Audit
April 8, 2008 - Six of the 117 action items identified in the 400-page Curriculum Management Audit of the Wake County Public School System are now complete, WCPSS Chief Academic Officer Donna Hargens told the Board of Education today.In her first quarterly report on the Curriculum Management Audit to the Board of Education, Dr. Hargens described the work underway on reviewing the audit action items and the six action items that have already been accomplished:
- Add a “searchable by word” feature to the online policy manual;
- Design the budget management process to allow for an acceptable variation (3-5%) to permit stability to achieve the desired results;
- Move the Student Due Process and Policy Officer to report to the Chief of Staff;
- Assign responsibility for developing and implementing student and program assessment to the Evaluation and Research Department;
- Establish the Evaluation and Research Department as a clearinghouse for all assessments and evaluations; and
- Implement goals and strategies in plans. Require congruity of policy intent and decision and actions.
Dr. Hargens told the board that another 19 CMA action items are currently underway and a timeline has been developed for the remaining 92. It will take several years to complete the review and implementation of the audit recommendations since some actions must be accomplished to lay the groundwork for others. Hargens will provide quarterly updates to the board on the school system’s progress.
Hargens said the Curriculum Management Audit Resource Center on the school system’s website has been updated to include a progress report with the latest information on the school system’s review of the 117 action items, as well as a new Curriculum Management Audit newsletter available on the website and distributed this month in schools.
The CMA Resource Center was launched last month with basic information about the audit, video and audio reports and news releases. There are reports on each of the eight major recommendations that include an explanation of the recommendations, the action steps recommended by the audit and videotaped messages from the WCPSS administrators responsible for that issue. The Curriculum Management Audit Resource Center can be found at www.wcpss.net/curriculum-management.
The curriculum management audit was undertaken to help the school system improve and to provide guidance on how to improve. The team of nationally recognized education experts from Phi Delta Kappa measured the school system against a standard established to measure the way school systems may best meet their students’ academic needs.
The audit will serve as a blueprint for making the school system better: more aligned, more focused, more efficient, and more effective in serving students.
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