Ibsen essay

Mentor Interview – District Curriculum Development Milwaukee Public Schools is the largest school district in Wisconsin. It serves over 87,000 students and employs over 6,000 teachers in over 200 schools. I had the privilege of speaking directly with Tina Flood, the Interim Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction for MPS regarding curriculum development processes in the district. Each department has their own curriculum specialist that is in charge of curriculum development. That person is responsible to make the final decisions regarding curriculum and professional development for staff. The curriculum specialist most often tries to involve a very diverse group of teachers (including special education, bilingual, etc.) in to collaborate and to create standards based curriculum in each of the specialty areas. One of the biggest problems that the district encounters is that in order to collaborate, teachers are supposed to be paid and the district has very limited funds.
There are many misconceptions among teachers about curriculum. Many teachers feel that selecting a textbook is the same as developing a curriculum, but the “textbook is just a tool, standards are the driver.” She wishes that she could educate people about what curriculum really is and how to create lessons that are driven by the standards. Funding for professional development and district initiatives is prioritized and based on testing and student performance data, therefore money may not be available in all curricular areas. Even though other areas are also in need of development, due to the need to see immediate improvement in student achievement data, at this time, the push is for language arts and mathematics. Teachers are supposed to be at the center of the process, but the actual vertical and horizontal alignment and delivery of the curriculum is left to each individual school. What is written at the district level is not necessarily what is taught in the schools. The reason that the consistency may not be happening is due to lack of communication about the initiatives or opportunities for professional development to learn about how to implement the curriculum properly. Training is usually posted on the portal, but most teachers do not check the portal or even know that the portal shares this type of information. Principals are given the responsibility to distribute information that they are given at district meetings, but depending on the principal the information may not be disseminated. Professional development for district wide initiatives are offered on banking days, but implementation is still left up to each individual school. Parents are not given notification nor are they involved in the process of curriculum selection or development. Usually, the first time they know about what their kids are learning is when they receive their child’s first report card. Keeping parents abreast of learning is the sole effort of each individual school.
In Tina’s opinion, defining the standards and helping teachers understand that what they teach is aligned to those standards is the most important thing to keep in mind when engaged in the curriculum development. We need to allow time for collaboration. It would benefit students most if collaboration took place between like schools with like students (ie. Rufus King and Reagan/ Spanish teachers from schools all around the district learning best practices)

Synthesis
Milwaukee Public Schools is such a large school district that a canyon of problems separate development of curriculum from implementation. Bridging these gaps would mean overcoming such deficits as funding, professional development, implementation earmarks, accountability, and a restructure of the district system to allow curriculum development with integrity. It’s just cause to affect the district wide implementation that is sorely lacking. The drivers behind district curriculum development are in line with best teaching practices; the disconnect of those practices occurs somewhere between the district development and the individual school implementation. There is a systemic failure whereby depending on the principal involvement or teacher buy-in the curriculum is either completely ignored or not practiced in the way in which it was designed. Each school, depending on the participation and activity of administration or teachers within that school, will implement the program in their own way and student achievement varies greatly based on site. Funding is a major factor in decision making for both deciding which curriculum is given the attention and who is allowed to participate in the professional development necessary to effectively use the curriculum as designed.

C. Flood (personal communication, June 26, 2012)
Mentor Interview Notes: Pamela Davis/Tina Flood
1. What is the process for curriculum development in the school/district? Who is involved, what timelines are used, who makes final decisions?
Curriculum Specialist… each area has their own specialist head up the process/ they convene a team of teachers to help in writing a curriculum. “Textbook is a tool, but standards are the driver educating people about what curriculum is.” Teachers need to be paid to get professional development and initiatives are prioritized based on the testing.
Look for a diverse team, including special education
2. How do you work toward the alignment of curriculum/instruction and assessment across grades and levels?
Even though this is supposed to be a teacher process…..this needs to happen at the individual school level. What is written at the district level is not necessarily what is taught.
3. How is the implementation of new curricula supported to ensure teaching staff are aware of changes/revisions to curriculum, instruction and/or assessment?
The information is put out there, but communication is a struggle. Professional development is offered on banking days, but it’s hard. Principals are required to distribute info. Depending on who’s in charge…
4. How are parents notified of changes to curriculum, instruction and/or assessment?
Parents are not informed or involved. Report cards are most often the first time that parents know what is being taught. Resources on the portal… only good if people know that they are there. Individual schools make the push to see things happen
5. In your opinion, what is the most important thing to keep in mind when engaged in the curriculum review/development process?
The standards and helping teachers understand that what they teach is aligned to those standards. We need to allow time for collaboration. Like schools with like students (ie. Rufus King and Reagan/ Spanish teachers from schools all around the district learning best practices)