TISD curriculum audit targets weaknesses
Trinity Standard , October 2007

TRINITY – Problems with the local curriculum program and the need for improvement were discussed Monday during a special meeting of the Trinity School Board.
Preliminary results of a special curriculum audit performed by the Region VI Education Service Center (ESC) in Huntsville were presented to the board by Superintendent Dr. Bobby Rice.
Rice noted that until the ESC publishes its final report in December or January, it has asked that detailed information not be made public.
“This is a deficit audit, meaning it’s not designed to tell you what you’re doing right. It is designed to tell you where you can improve,” Rice noted.
While the preliminary report noted that the Trinity Independent School District received fewer recommendations other schools received, Rice noted the recommendations that were made were “hard hitting.”
Rice told the board that one of the biggest problems cited in the preliminary report dealt with the school’s computerized curriculum program called “C Scope.”
The program is designed to make sure that students are taught the proper skills and in the correct order as outlined in the state’s curriculum: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
The statewide Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) exam is used to test whether students have mastered those skills.
Board members indicated it is particularly important that improvement be made at Lansberry Elementary School (LES), particularly in math instruction, because that campus was listed by the state as academically unacceptable based on the 2007 TAKS exam.
Rice noted that the district purchased the C Scope program about 18 months ago from the Region VI ESC to help make sure that all skills required by the state are being taught in the proper sequence at all grade levels.
It was noted that if a students fails to master a vital skill, they will have problems in that subject area for their rest of their educational careers.
He noted that the main problem involving C Scope is that the ESC is rewriting the program “as we go along” and it is not complete.
Teachers are not given access to a sixth week’s plan sometimes until the week before the grading period starts which means it makes it impossible to plan ahead.
Rice also noted that some of the materials and books called for in the C Scope lesson guides are not available.
He noted the district needs to “customize” the program to fit the local needs but because they are not getting the lesson guides on a timely basis, there is no time to make to changes.
Board President Dorothy Franklin, a retired LES principal, suggested school administrators set up meeting with the district’s curriculum directors and teachers to try to work out a solution.
“The teachers, especially the teachers who have a great deal of experience, know what the problem is and they will have ideas on how to fix it,” Franklin said.
Rice agreed with Franklin’s suggestion and said he would get with the campus principals and begin setting up the meetings.
He noted that he already has asked for and received written comments from teachers regarding C Scope. While many like the concept, they said they are having a great deal of trouble using it in its current form.
Board member L.C. Courtney urged quick action in order to help resolve the math problems at LES.
“We need to take care of this as quickly as possible so we are not faced with this same situation next year,” he said.
Another board member, Steve Tyler, also voiced his displeasure with the way the ESC is handling the C Scope program.
“We paid for this about 18 months ago and we still don’t have a working product and that is not acceptable.
“If we were building a new building and the contractor said, ‘I just don’t have the steel yet, but go ahead and put up the bricks and I’ll slide the steel in later,’ we wouldn’t accept that,” Tyler said.

Mock test reviewed
In other discussion during the special meeting, the board voiced concerns with problems that grew out of a mock TAKS tests given to TISD students recently.
Rice explained the test is designed to provide teachers with a “base line” of information regarding areas of weakness and to identify students who need extra help.
He noted that those who performed poorly on the mock test are being assigned mandatory tutoring programs to help them improve before the real test is administered in the spring.
In response to questions from the board, Rice said administrators at first intended to count the grades from the mock test towards each student’s six-week score but subsequently decided to drop that plan.
“That really wouldn’t be fair (to count the scores)” Franklin said, “because the students are being tested on information they have not yet been given.”
It was indicated that between 40 and 50 percent of the mock test covered information and skills that the students will receive between now and the spring TAKS exam.
“By counting the results of the test, we wanted to motivate the kids to do their best,” Rice said.
Tyler noted that if the students were made aware a poor performance could send them into a mandatory tutorial class, that might be motive enough.
Board member Joe Farris also questioned Rice about problems encountered with the answer sheets used for the mock exam.
The superintendent explained that the district did not receive the answer sheets to be used by the students in time for the mock test. A new scanning device used to read and grade the answer sheets did arrive on schedule.
He said when they contacted the manufacturer about this problem, they were told that old answer sheets in the district’s possession would work with the new scanner.
“After we used these older sheets, we discovered the scanner would not read them,” Rice said.
To solve this problem, after the new sheets arrived, they had the students transfer their answers from the old to the new sheets.
Farris said he was told by parents that during the course of transferring the answer, three answer sheets were lost and the students were required to retake the test.
He said one student refused to answer the questions, another marked all ‘A’s on the sheet and the third drew pictures of sailboats. At least two of the three were punished.
“This is the first I’ve heard about answer sheets being lost,” Rice said, adding that he would investigate the matter and let Farris know what he finds out.

Joint election
Also discussed Monday night was the possibility of conducting a joint election with the Trinity Memorial Hospital District this coming May.
Under the plan, the school and hospital district would utilize the same election officials and polling place.
Rice noted that the two entities used the same polling place in May 2007 – the Trinity Fire Station’s meeting room.
He noted that under changes in the state law, the school district will be required to join with either the hospital district or the city in elections and that the hospital district had expressed interest.
The board authorized Rice to begin work on pre-clearance forms that had to be filed with the U.S. Justice Department seeking approval of the change in the way the election would be conducted.

Auditor discussed
During the meeting, the board briefly discussed the hiring of a financial auditor, but took no action.
In September the board received two proposals from Ken Davis of Huntsville and Jesse L. Stephens of Crockett to perform the audit of the 2006-2007 budget year.
It was noted Monday night that while Davis’ proposed price for the work was about $2,000 less than Stephens, the Crockett auditor has been conducting the local audit for the past 20 years and is very familiar with TISD finances.
The board is set to vote on hiring the auditor at its Oct. 22 regular meeting.