Election 2011: Cass District 63 Candidates on Curriculum

What do you think of the district's current curriculum? What changes, if any, would you make?

For the most part, the curriculum is strong.  However, it has to be modified to be compliant with new standards recently adopted by the Illinios State Board of Education. These new standards are referred to as the New Illinois State Learning Standards, and they incorporate something called the Common Core Standards, which are designed to make education more uniform on a national level. 

I think the current curriculum in Cass District 63 is strong, as evidenced by the awards it consistently wins for academic excellence. It is not really the job of the board to make changes in curriculum. We hire the best administrators and teachers we can. They are the experts in education and know far better than the board the best programs for students’ needs. About the only thing on my wish list is that I wish we had the financial resources at the junior high level to allow students to take art and music for the entire school year as electives.

I think the current curriculum is good, but there is always room for improvment in anything. I am not sure that it is the board's job to make major changes to the curriculum. We have a teaching and learning committee which makes educated recommendations to the board in terms of adopting textbooks and the like, but I don't believe it is my responsibility as a school board member to go into the school and tell them how to teach or what to teach. The administrators are aware of what the state standards are, and it is up to them to devise a plan to help the children meet those standards.

The district's current curriculum is reviewed systematically with the direction of the board. Each year we have a "School Improvement Plan" as mandated by the state that takes into consideration the curriculum and how it holds up to state standards and requirements though the state testing process. This School Improvement Plan is completed annually and is a general overview of each area of teaching and learning at all grade levels. Additionally, we have highlighted specific subject areas and the administration is charged with putting together a review team to review that specific curriculum. With the current review system, each subject taught in District 63 is thoroughly reviewed and its content and success is reported back to the board about once every three years on a more in-depth level. At that time we implement any changes to the curriculum that are necessary. That being said, I am very pleased with this district's curriculum. I feel we have a very thorough process to evaluate it. Also, our scores speak for themselves.  We couldn't accomplish such great academic scores without a strong curriculum. 

The current curriculum is educating students at an above average level. We should continue to add to the curriculum what is required in order to keep up with the state's standards.