Term Paper on "Curriculum the Role of the State Board"

Term Paper 10 pages (2713 words) Sources: 10 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Curriculum

The role of the State Board of education is to support and assist the administration of schools through the development of strategic plans, curriculum standards and budget issues. The State Board of Education also acts as a community involved board where some of its members are not educators but are members of the community, fulfilling other roles. In short the role of the State Board is to provide general guidance to schools, to help schools obtain high quality learning for all students in the school system. The board sets broad goals and formulates some specific solutions or objectives through planning and interaction with administration, as well as community. According to the Vermont Department of Education the five aspects of the department are to:

Support high-quality, innovative instruction to improve student achievement, an aspect that demonstrates a high level of definition and accountability in planning and instruction, touching on everything from kindergarten readiness of students to readiness of schools and learning environments for students. The aspect also provides inclusive direction for standards-based learning with the overall goal of attempting to make sure that all students meet their full potential. Provide and promote high-quality educational leadership, an aspect that refers to the professional skill and development of school board members as well as administrators and creates evaluation systems for determining change need and effectiveness of decisions making. Promote safe and positive learning environments, an aspect that focuses on reducing incidence of unsafe school environments with regard to actions by individuals as well as the school environment itself and to create a parent advisory board to help give input on issues of safe schools. Build department capacity to best support external needs, an aspect that addresses consolidation of administrative locations as well as a communication strategy and state board funding and development plans. Practice and promote effective use of all resources Vermont State Board of Education an aspect that illuminates the goal of sustainable practices in operations, cost effective delivery systems as well as the increased implementation of technology in teaching.

Describe the framework for standards and the learning opportunities for Mathematics only at the selected grade level.

The standards and learning opportunities for grade eight in mathematics are comprehensive in that they cover all the pertinent information that is age appropriate for a clearer understanding of math concepts with regard to basics as well as theory. The standards encompass skills that go beyond grades k-4 and are grouped in age areas 5-8. The demonstration of the students ability to apply a variety of skills to solve problems and formulate and solve meaningful problems using basic math, abstract math, algebra and geometry, as well as some basic understandings of statistical measures, terms and functions. Though this grade group 5-8 may seem large the grouping gives students the opportunity for growth from 5-8 that prepares them adequately for high school math, which is a clear precursor to college level math concepts and problems. The expectations of the plan are better described, lacking the broad generalization of 5-8 in the specific document pertaining to 8th grade mathematics grade expectations.

Analyze how the five aspects to the strategic plan may or may not be substantiated in the framework of standards and the learning opportunities. Identify examples to illustrate your perspective. Determine to what degree the framework and opportunities documents are aligned / map onto the five strategies. Are there any gaps? If so, do the gaps make sense?

The five strategies of the strategic plan are comprehensive, and build on goals from the past, in periods of transition. They are reflective of accountabilities-based goals and can be applied generally and specifically to give the whole of the system a better productive idea of the health and well being of the schools in the state of Vermont. The broad aspects are given specific demonstrative indicators for success and/or failure of the goals, and as is the current model stress outcomes and accountability over theory. One noted gap in the goals is that the broader aspects do not include demonstrative student or community involvement, in needs assessment and goal setting, but instead rely on very limited sets of data to determine success, based on past performance. In one example of this gap, is the inclusion of a desire by the board to develop a community "conversation" to discuss, "quality, cost and governance... with a focus on student success combined with high standards." (Goal V, Objective D, Point 5) (2006-2007 Strategic Plan, 2006, p. 8) Yet, in the corresponding indicators section there is no indicator that correlates with this "conversation" addressing student and parent desires as well as community understanding of how to best meet the needs of students in the most effective and efficient manner. The corresponding indicators section includes, test score indicators as well as telecommunications investment, budget and course offerings but makes no mention of a demonstrative indicator of having a collaborative conference with the community.

Evaluate whether the information between the strategic plan and the framework and opportunities documents provide adequate "leadership and support to help all Vermont students achieve excellence" as the mission statement claims in regard to standards for curriculum development. Give examples to illustrate your argument.

In general school boards have made general guidance regulations and standards regarding curriculum and development but have not micromanaged the actual schools in their jurisdiction. The Vermont School Board in response to accountabilities and outcome-based trends have become more specific than ever before regarding goals and standards, but curriculum development has not significantly changed. The positive note is that resources are more readily available and educators are offered more support with regard to continuing education and classroom resources than ever before. One example can be found on the Mathematics Expectations page, where grade specific resources are offered to teachers to assist them in developing curriculum in the classroom that will best meet the goals of the specific expectations. The tools seem to be limited to explicative materials for educator understanding of concept expectations, the tool lead to questions that can create better instruction.

Reference for Section 1:

Vermont Department of Education - State Board of Education. Retrieved July 2007 at http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/mainboard.html

Vermont Department of Education - VERMONT'S FRAMEWORK of STANDARDS & LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES. Retrieved July 2007 from: http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pubs/framework.html

Vermont Department of Education - Curriculum and Assessment: Mathematics. Retrieved July 2007 at http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pgm_curriculum/mathematics/gle.html

Section 2:

To complete the essay for this section you will need to refer to the School District's Role in Curriculum Development. You will also need to read through the Tempe Union High School Curriculum Model. Draw on additional scholarly literature to demonstrate mastery of the concepts.

Using the Tempe document, describe the three levels of committees and their features, and explain the role the district plays in relation to the Campus Curriculum Committees and the Governing Board.

In the Tempe document there are three basic committee levels, campus, district and state. The Campus level committee is the Campus Curriculum Committee, which is charged with making specific suggestions based on particular school needs for review of curriculum. The campus level system is paramount to teacher, school and student empowerment. (Gross, 1997, p. 153) the District Curriculum Council provides the second tier and actually offers the bulk of the district wide curriculum changes based on a predetermined schedule, and also leaves room for non-reviewed subject changes upon remittance form a Campus Committee. The district's role is to take specific suggestions as well as common needs assessment into consideration when district wide changes can or need to be made to curriculum. (Koppang, 2004, p. 154) the state Governing Board then serves as the final review and adoption committee, for changes made to specific campus and/or district or statewide curriculum changes.

What is the importance of planning and organization of curriculum on the district level?

The district serves as a guidepost for implementation of curriculum change, allowing the Governing Board (state level) to function as a broad body, rather than a specific detail oriented committee. It is of grave importance that the district have input in curriculum decisions based on the specific requests and needs of the various schools it oversees, as the district can better understand the specific best practices and/or shortcomings of specific curriculum implementation of the past, based on campus level information, which in this district includes student, educator and administrative involvement. (Koppang, 2004, p. 154)

What major functions would district-level curriculum efforts serve?

The district must serve as a go between and do a bulk of the planning to allow each of the other tiers of the system to go about the business of their functions in the case of the campus, learning and teaching and in the case of the state board, overseeing and guiding. The district interpretation of particular and broad curriculum goals as well as student and faculty needs and desires (based upon real classroom information) is crucial to effective curriculum development as the state board cannot visit every school, every year to determine need or meet with every… READ MORE

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