Series 2000 Policies

I'm starting to go through the drafts for the Series 2000 Policies. We got them at the Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee meeting. There's a lot here and it's going to take some time.

They aren't posted anywhere on the district web site, but write to Holly Ferguson if you want a copy.

Comments

Charlie Mas said…
Policy 2021, Library Media Centers

"Each district library/media center will be appropriately staffed..."

All schools will be required to have librarians, I guess.
9/30/11, 9:47 AM
Charlie Mas said…
Policy 2090, program Evaluation & Assessment

This is a great policy which speaks to the heart of the Board's responsibility to oversee. Yet there are a lot of problems with this policy.

Here's one that leaps right out at me:
"the Board will provide:
...
B. Staff, resources and support to achieve the stated expectations..."

Ummm. I don't think this is a Board duty. The Board should not be allocating staff or resources.

The policy covers too much. It quickly veers away from the Board's duty to oversee the effectiveness of programs and into the assessment of individual students. These two things are un-related and should not be merged into a single policy.

There is something in here that says:
"Parents who wish to examine any assessment materials may do so by contacting the Superintendent or his or her designee."

First, "parents" needs to be expanded to "parents and guardians".

Second, how is the superintendent going to show folks an adaptive assessment like the MAP?

The policy requires staff to use assessments to "Identify the needs of individual students who are not progressing at their expected rates" Really, we have assessments that can do that? The assessment will tell us that the student needs a better breakfast or a stable and supported study space?

Here's a part I really like:
"The Superintendent shall prepare an annual report which reflects the degree to which district goals and objective related to the instructional program have been accomplished."

I take this to mean that the district will deliver an annual report on each instructional program (language immersion, Montessori, Spectrum, APP, etc.). Unfortunately, the "instructional programs" (plural) at the start of the policy have become "instructional program" (singular) here in this part of the policy. I fear we may get only one report for the whole district - the district scorecard.

That would totally suck and it would fail to meet the requirements set at that top of the policy.

It would also mean that we would never get a review of Special Education or ELL or Spectrum. And we desperately need those reviews.
9/30/11, 10:31 AM
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