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Curriculum Mapping Expands in Scope and Availability to PV School Parents
District goals reflected upon for 2007-8 school year
by Margaret Sternberg
The September 6, 2007 meeting of the Putnam Valley Board of Education was relatively quiet and the first of the new 2007-8 school year. A presentation on Curriculum Mapping for Grades K-12 dominated the meeting, ending with a resolution in which the Board approved the content and skills developed in the curriculum maps.
Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Barbara Fuchs explained that the district's website now has a feature in which parents can click on a content area and grade to see what all teachers for that grade, in collaboration, have decided should be the teaching content for the year and what learning skills they expect the children to develop through the curriculum. The Curriculum Maps are also set up sequentially, allowing viewers to see how the skills transition from grade to grade and the educational prerequisites from one grade to the next.
Curriculum Mapping for Art, Music and Health are to be forthcoming, and the mapping is not yet done for Grade 12 because the courses are all electives, and mandatory courses will be mapped first.
The Curriculum Mapping itself, and consultants hired to assist in the mapping, are not paid through taxpayer dollars but funded through a Title I grant.
In other business, the Board and Superintendent Dr. Space began discussions on the district's goals for the current school year. The goals, which will be further refined in upcoming meetings, are scheduled for adoption in October.
Among some of the recommendations being considered is a requirement for high school students to perform a stipulated number of hours of community service. The requirement would probably exclude this year's seniors due to the lack of time to complete the requirement prior to graduation.
The Board also is considering evaluating the success of the implementation of technology within the district and the lap top program through the use of exams, the type of which were not specified.
Other goal areas covered included the Board's expectations on the use of differentiated instruction, a program that would follow the progress of graduates as they went on to secondary education or other pursuits, and ensuring for current, updated communication with the public about various district matters and initiatives.
On the financial front, there was consideration given to a revival of a citizens' budget committee to work with the administration, the outside auditor and others to keep the public better informed during the entire budget process.
The next meeting of the Putnam Valley Board of Education is scheduled for Thursday, September 20, at 7pm.
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