Challenges and Areas for Growth It is important to note that district review reports prioritize identifying challenges and areas for growth in order to promote a cycle of continuous improvement; the report deliberately describes the district’s challenges and concerns in greater detail than the strengths identified during the review. Curriculum and Instruction 6. The district’s curriculum maps do not consistently include key components. Many do not include instructional strategies, resources, pacing guides, and assessments. A. Curriculum maps exist for all grades and disciplines. However, a sampling of 16 curriculum maps in the network’s curriculum folder showed maps that do not include key elements. Of the 16 maps sampled: 1. All maps included a content component; 2. None contained instructional strategies; 3. Eight included a pacing guide or timeline; 4. Five included instructional resources; 5. Thirteen contained an assessment component. However, 11 simply listed generic references to tests, quizzes, homework and projects; 6. There were five different curriculum map formats. Impact: Without key components, curriculum guides do not specify for teachers the teaching and learning that is to take place in each course of study. As a result, the district cannot ensure that students have the opportunity to master what the state requires in its curriculum frameworks. 7. In visited classrooms, team members observed a low incidence of some key instructional characteristics. The team observed 67 classes throughout the Abington school district: 18 at the high school, 18 at the middle school, and 31 in elementary school classrooms. The team observed 24 ELA, 21 mathematics, 9 science lessons, and 13 other classes. The observations were approximately 20 minutes in length. All review team members collected data using ESE’s instructional inventory, a tool for recording observed characteristics of standards based teaching. This data is presented in Appendix C. In a majority of the observed Abington classrooms, review team members found the instructional climate to be conducive to learning. A majority of the district’s teachers
Challenges and Areas for Growth It is important to note that district review reports prioritize identifying challenges and areas for growth in order to promote a cycle of continuous improvement; the report deliberately describes the district’s challenges and concerns in greater detail than the strengths identified during the review. Curriculum and Instruction 6. The district’s curriculum maps do not consistently include key components. Many do not include instructional strategies, resources, pacing guides, and assessments. A. Curriculum maps exist for all grades and disciplines. However, a sampling of 16 curriculum maps in the network’s curriculum folder showed maps that do not include key elements. Of the 16 maps sampled: 1. All maps included a content component; 2. None contained instructional strategies; 3. Eight included a pacing guide or timeline; 4. Five included instructional resources; 5. Thirteen contained an assessment component. However, 11 simply listed generic references to tests, quizzes, homework and projects; 6. There were five different curriculum map formats. Impact: Without key components, curriculum guides do not specify for teachers the teaching and learning that is to take place in each course of study. As a result, the district cannot ensure that students have the opportunity to master what the state requires in its curriculum frameworks. 7. In visited classrooms, team members observed a low incidence of some key instructional characteristics. The team observed 67 classes throughout the Abington school district: 18 at the high school, 18 at the middle school, and 31 in elementary school classrooms. The team observed 24 ELA, 21 mathematics, 9 science lessons, and 13 other classes. The observations were approximately 20 minutes in length. All review team members collected data using ESE’s instructional inventory, a tool for recording observed characteristics of standards based teaching. This data is presented in Appendix C. In a majority of the observed Abington classrooms, review team members found the instructional climate to be conducive to learning. A majority of the district’s teachers
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