Kankakee Dist. 111 to audit curriculum, instruction

KANKAKEE – It is time for an in-depth look into the curriculum and instructional practices in Kankakee schools, according to district leadership.

Kankakee School District 111 is seeking a company to conduct an audit of its district-wide curriculum and instruction.

Proposals from companies are due by noon Friday. After receiving proposals and interviewing selected companies, the Kankakee School Board looks to approve the selection of an auditor on March 10.

The audit would be done in two phases. The first phase, looking at curriculum, will be completed by the end of May. The second phase will examine instruction, will be completed by the end of September.

The completed audit findings and recommendations will be presented in October to district leadership and then in November to the school board.

The detailed request for proposals that the board approved Jan. 13 is available on the district’s website.

Kelly Gilbert, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said the purpose of the audit is to get a perspective from an external entity while reviewing the district’s curriculum and instructional practices.

The audit would include an analysis of general education, special education and English language learner, among other programs.

Responses from ThoughtExchange surveys conducted during Superintendent Teresa Lance’s transition into the district reported perceptions of low expectations and instruction that was not aligned with grade-level expectations.

Another factor prompting the need for an audit, Gilbert said, is that the lowest summative designations of “intensive” and “comprehensive” were given to all but one of the Kankakee schools rated in the Illinois State Board of Education’s latest School Report Card cycle.

SAT results ‘dismal’

“In high school, the SAT performance is dismal at best,” Gilbert added. “In 11th grade, we only have 7% of students meeting proficiency in English language arts and 2% in math. We need to do better.”

Through its partnership with The New Teacher Project, Gilbert and other administrators have been conducting classroom walkthroughs.

It was noted that teachers had communicated goals and learning objectives in 38% of 78 classrooms observed. Meanwhile, about half of the classrooms observed had specific expectations around student learning, and 36% had content knowledge scaffolded and presented in multiple ways.

“We just have a lot of both qualitative and quantitative data that tells us we need to take a step back and review the curriculum we have in place,” Gilbert said.

The goal is making sure curriculum and expectations for students are aligned with state and national standards, the material used is rigorous and practices are meeting students’ needs, she said.

“The data is suggesting we have a gap in this somewhere in that process,” Gilbert said.

The curriculum phase will look at things like the materials used to teach, the scope and sequence in which the materials are used during the school year and how lessons are paced.

The auditors will also meet with teachers for focus-group conversations about how they feel the curriculum is working for students.

“Elevating teacher voice is a part of that,” Gilbert said.

The instruction phase will look more specifically at what practices are being used to teach the curriculum and how effective they are.

There may be deficiencies in either area; the district’s instruction could be strong but its curriculum could be weak, or vice versa.

Gilbert said the district currently does not have a cycle for reviewing curriculum. It did have a process at one point, but it hasn’t been followed in two to three years.

“That’s another area that we need to bring back to focus,” she said.

Most districts review curriculum in five-year cycles, with different subjects being reviewed at different times.

“It should be a continuous improvement process,” she said.

While new curriculum has been adopted in the last few years, there hasn’t been a process of looking at the bigger picture, Gilbert said.

“Audits aren’t always done, but a curriculum review process should be in place,” she said. “We’re having to do the audit because some of those processes have been lacking; it’s to make sure as we’re taking those next steps, we’re doing it with intentionality.”