Recently the whole city has been abuzz with a single question: Where is the curriculum in Pasco school district? To address this issue Pasco’s deputy superintendent has gone to the trouble to create a post specifically addressing this on PSD1.org! You can find the post here!
*update* Unfortunately this link is no longer valid. Just days after this blog was posted, PSD removed Michelle Whitney's original letter and posted something else in its place.
The specific question Michelle is answering for us today is: “Is it true that Pasco doesn’t have any curriculum?” We’ll be talking about her answer on the show today, but you can follow along by reading her very words!
PSD indicates that “Information surrounding this topic can be found here: http://bit.ly/1NvxTjv”
Michelle, take it away.
Michelle Whitney:
“Since my transition into my new position I have been asked specific questions regarding curriculum, materials and instructional approaches in our district.
I have been doing some intensive research in an effort to provide answers.”
“Since my transition into my new position I have been asked specific questions regarding curriculum, materials and instructional approaches in our district.
I have been doing some intensive research in an effort to provide answers.”
Have you really? Michelle Whitney, your previous position in PSD was director of teaching and learning. Curriculum and instructional materials should have been in your specific purview during the entire course of your employment and you have been working here for 19 years. Have you really only begun intensive research about this topic recently? Surely you jest. But please, do continue.
Michelle Whitney: “First, our content and instructional approaches are outlined in our strategic plan. They are Balanced Literacy, Developmental Writing Continuum, Inquiry Science, Problem Solving Math, Guided Language Acquisition Design, High Yield Instructional Strategies, Danielson Instructional Framework, Literacy Squared and Instructional Framework including Interventions.”
Hmm. So you say "content" and "instructional approaches," but all I see here are instructional approaches and no content. I assume you are trying to refer to curriculum here, since that is what you say this entire post is supposed to be about, correct? I’m sure you know that instructional approaches are not curriculum. Teachers know this, though your average layman may not. It appears as though you are attempting to pull a fast one by counting on the average citizen’s ignorance of this disparity. But you wouldn't do that would you?
I suppose you don’t want to get too specific here, hence your use of generic terms. If you’ll forgive me though, I will get specific here for just a bit.
I suppose you don’t want to get too specific here, hence your use of generic terms. If you’ll forgive me though, I will get specific here for just a bit.
For example, the Danielson Framework you refer to here was presented to our teachers, by yourself, as a system used for teacher evaluations. Teachers all know what this is, and supposedly you do also. Why is a tool designed for teacher evaluation being presented as part of the argument for complete curriculum?
Balanced literacy and Guided Language Acquisition are both approaches, not curriculum, which I’m sure you know.
Literacy squared is still in a research and development phase, it certainly is not current and complete curriculum. But of course you know all this too, this is all part of your job. So, sorry to get specific on you, but it appears this list appears to be padded. But excuse me, you were talking about your content and instructional approaches?
Balanced literacy and Guided Language Acquisition are both approaches, not curriculum, which I’m sure you know.
Literacy squared is still in a research and development phase, it certainly is not current and complete curriculum. But of course you know all this too, this is all part of your job. So, sorry to get specific on you, but it appears this list appears to be padded. But excuse me, you were talking about your content and instructional approaches?
Michelle Whitney: “These were identified in 2008 as part of the strategic planning process and approved by the board. They have been part of the strategic planning process, and have been refreshed and renewed since that time.”
Ah. Strategic planning processes are wonderful aren’t they? But are they universal curriculum for the whole district? Here we read that content and instructional approaches were adopted in 2008 and have been renewed since this time. Nowhere is it indicated that curriculum has been adopted or renewed. I’m sure it was somewhere in there, but reading this doesn’t clarify that for me. Also, I hate to mention it, but not everything in the strategic plan is related to curriculum, and it might be considered a misrepresentation to present these tools to the public in a way that implies they are curriculum. I’m sure that’s not what you meant at all! But please, do go on.
Michelle Whitney: “We have instructional materials that philosophically align with the expectations of our content and instructional approaches. The transition to the new Washington State Learning Standards has created a context requiring us to be reflective about the extent to which our existing content/instructional approaches and materials align to the new academic expectations.”
Whoohoo! Slow down there, Michelle! You’re using a lot of fancy terms for me, the average layman/parent/taxpayer. If I didn’t know any better I would think you were trying to make yourself difficult to understand! So if I understand this correctly, you just said we ‘have some stuff that fits our plan.’ And then you said ‘new standards are telling us to check to see if our stuff still fits with the new standards.’ Did I paraphrase that correctly? I would like to point out that neither of these statements actually address your original question of Is it true that Pasco doesn’t have any curriculum? But I’m sure you’ll be getting to that soon.
Michelle Whitney: “Our approach is two-fold. First, is to provide a support system for teachers in the short term.
· ELA Pacing Guide/Math Curriculum Guide
· Aligned interim assessments
· Vetting process for units, lessons, materials and strategies”
It looks like your short term system includes supporting teachers and vetting your materials. I do hate to nit-pick, but neither pacing guides, math guides nor interim assessments, aligned or otherwise, are really full curriculum. Who do you plan to vet these materials with? That is something that I’m sure all the teachers would like to know. Also, again I hate to split hairs but do you have a timeline for this “short-term” approach? I've heard the teacher's union is asking for a 1-2 year plan, but the district is countering with a six year plan. Is that true? That would be a fairly pertinent thing to let us all know, I’m sure you’d agree. It seems to me that for a question answering session your information seems to be creating more questions than it’s answering.
Michelle Whitney: “Second, a plan of reviewing instructional materials K-12 will be developed in coordination with principals and teachers. This systematic approach to materials review will begin with K-8 Literacy in the fall of 2015. “
You refer to multiple plans of reviewing processes as a "systematic" approach. I do not think that word means what you think it means. Systematic is a fun word meaning methodical, organized or orderly, but your proposed plan looks more like a systematic method of eternally putting off some fairly urgent needs in the district. But I’m sure that’s not what you meant. You’d certainly never drag out an important process like this so long that our current 6th graders will graduate from Pasco Schools without ever having had a universally adopted and current curriculum. That would be crazy. What else do you have for us?
Michelle Whitney: “This Excel workbook outlines our adopted and supplemental materials K-8. There are also spreadsheets outlining the Literacy Library titles at each building and materials provided for our bilingual classes by grade level. A similar document for 9-12 is under review and will be provided as soon as possible.”
Information! Exactly what we were hoping for! Oh.... I hate to get specific on you again, but this list seems to be different than lists previously provided to the Tri City Herald, the teachers' union, and the public when the district was asked about curriculum just a few months ago. You left out a lot of things that you included on the other list. I’m looking through this and nowhere in your current list are the sections of science curriculum that were adopted in 1997. I also can’t find the social studies book for third grade; you know, the one originally printed in 1990 and no longer available? It seems to have been left off, I can’t imagine why. One would think you were selectively representing the adopted curriculum to the public, but you wouldn't do that.
I also don’t see these spreadsheets outlining the Literacy Library titles. I’m sure, since you’ve provided the other spreadsheet to us that you could certainly make it available online. That’s easy as pie and much more convenient for information seekers. And I just cannot wait to see this document you’re talking about for our 9-12 students. Do you have any idea about when that might be available? No?
Well, it appears as though Michelle Whitney is out of information for us. As usual, the mystery of curriculum remains unsolved as we have done a perfect job of truly surrounding the topic with information but never actually saying anything specific that could definitively answer Pasco School District’s self imposed question! I think I could answer for Ms. Whitney when I say it was a pleasure relaying this to all of you and I hope you join us again for another show in the near future!
Please feel free to peruse Michelle’s recently released list of K-8 materials, with their link at the bottom of the page on PSD1.org’s site.
Then if you like, take a moment to compare it to the list of adopted materials and curriculum previously released to the teacher’s union and the Tri-City Herald.
https://drive.google.com/file/
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If you, like many of us, felt like Pasco School District's post didn't really answer the question of whether or not PSD1 has curriculum or not, allow me to take a stab it it.
The answer is yes, Pasco has a limited amount of adopted curriculum. It is scattered in grade level, completion and age but there is some. Therein lies the problem. Some of our kids have access to quality resources. Some of our teachers get to use books. But only some. With our curriculum in the state it is in, each child in Pasco is dependent on the dedication of their teacher, the building they are learning in and the random whims of fate for what kind of education they will receive in Pasco. Some is just not good enough anymore. We love ALL of Pasco's kids, and we think they ALL deserve access to quality curriculum in EVERY school in the district, at ALL grade levels and in ALL subject areas.
We could say a lot about what we think of this but we think the teachers said it best. The following quotes are from Pasco School District's own survey conducted this winter during the superintendent search. This was a survey specifically about a superintendent, but what it reveals about the teachers' needs is very telling in answering the question of curriculum in Pasco.
* * *
"I would like to see the new superintendent embrace curriculum. We can no longer teach this amount of students, with a growing range of abilities and language skills, with these extensive requirements with theory alone. Districts nearby and others with similar demographics are being given the tools they need to teach these rigorous standards. There needs to be consistency in instruction between buildings, grades, and classrooms to ensure achievement equity across the district. This does not happen when each teacher/school is making their own materials and assessments."
"We need a specific literacy curriculum."
"We must revisit our curriculum, especially in the area of mathematics. We need a problem-solving curriculum that truly aligns to our standards. Currently, we have Investigations. The publishers wrote supplemental lessons to meet the Washington Learning Standards but those supplemental lessons are short and only come up once or twice. We need a curriculum similar to Investigations that is student-focused and allows students to follow the three part lesson model of launch, explore and summarize."
"The district is falling apart, good staff members are leaving because of the lack of curriculum and administrator support."
"Many great teachers and staff are capable and willing to help students succeed but they need books, supplies, and curriculum, not "frameworks" and contradicting theories and expectations.Get rid of some of the district level administration. We pay way too much money for administrators and district office staff and not enough money on books, supplies, and curriculum for the classrooms."
"Curriculum adoption and purchasing of materials to keep our students updated on the latest available materials on an ongoing basis, in imperative to our students future success."
"Their teachers are unprepared to teach because they must create so many materials."
"Each school is doing whatever you want with the materials given and are not all following a plan. When students move from school to school they are never on the same pace."
"Lack of curriculum and materials in the district maintains the achievement gap with our students and those of other districts nearby."
"The tax payers money is not going to the right things. Teachers need books, supplies, and curriculum, not "frameworks" and contradicting theories and expectations."
"Why is there no common curriculum? Why do we keep dumping money into more and more "curriculum" that not even our neighbor districts use? Com'on son!"
"No curriculum consistency. Too many variables in how teachers design their own curriculum. Students are falling behind."
"Curriculum is the number one issue facing this district. When surrounding districts are experiencing success because they have the foundation of a unified curriculum, it is mind-boggling why we can't do the same. The hodge-podge way in which each grade level in each building is creating their own resources (curriculum) according to their interpretation of the standards, cannot continue to be how Pasco operates. The gaps in learning this practice creates are unacceptable. This is not a best practice nor should it continue to be embraced."
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