Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic Support at the National Level

Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic

Support at the National Level

SED 322 Signature Assignment

Daniel A Dandurand Jr.

Arizona State University

Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic Support at the National Level

Table of Contents (Draft)

I. Abstract……………………………………………………………….Pg. 3

II. Introduction.………………………………..………………..………Pgs. 4-7

III. Stakeholder Analysis…....………………………………………….Pgs. 7-11

IV. Environmental Analysis.………………………………………..….Pgs. 11-14

V. Reflection…………………………………………………………….Pgs. 14-16

VI. References……………………………………………………..……Pg. 17
Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic Support at the National Level

Abstract

No unified system exists at the national level for tracking student progress within the
educational system. Each district is responsible for ensuring that their student records are
maintained for each particular student. But when students move to another district there is little
in the way of continuity concerning curriculum to date for the student in question. In many cases
it is the receiving school that is left with the task of determining the needs of an incoming
student. While the system works for the most part, there are still discrepancies that could be
alleviated where student transferability is concerned. An example being that in almost all
transfer cases the receiving school has no idea what actual curriculum was covered in the
previous school or schools for the student in question. A unified national educational academic
record and curriculum system would alleviate problems such as these. Additionally, this “whole
person” system of record keeping would have implications that reach beyond the K-12 realm of
education. I.e. being able to apply for college admission with the click of a mouse button.
Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic Support at the National Level

Introduction

Current Practice
Every year students move about the United States for one reason or another, usually tied
to their parent’s careers or simply a change in their housing situation. When this happens
sometimes the students simply move about within the same school area they already attend.
Other times they move about within a particular school district, to a different city, or another
state entirely. In many cases concerning movement that requires a change of district, at city,
state, or national level the receiving school needs to request information from the previous
school. Sometimes this information is sent as a sealed record via the parents of the child or the
U.S. Mail. The assumption in many cases by the receiving district being that the student met all
their previous curriculum requirements at their previous school with regards to current grade
placement. Many times student are place in a class without receipt of previous academic records
or information about previous curriculum.

Scenario
Student X moved into the district three weeks ago and is currently enrolled in the seventh
grade. School just started for the Fall semester two weeks ago. The student was placed in a
seventh grade classroom based on current age and parent input upon enrollment. However,
yesterday the administration received a sealed copy of the students record via U.S. Mail and
found that the student had never actually graduated from the sixth grade at their previous school
in another state due to poor grades and a high absence rate. Additionally, there was an
Individualized Educational Plan (I.E.P.) note from the previous school attached to the academic
record. The parents had not requested any kind of I.E.P. support at the new school. Further
investigation reveals that this is the student’s fourth school in five years.
Additionally, there is no clear record of what the student completed curriculum wise at
their previous school, or schools, as the case may be. While there are expected standards that all
schools should follow these still vary from state to state and in some cases from teacher to
teacher within the same school district. The receiving school is now beset with the task of
determining how to best meet the educational needs of its newest student with a spotty academic
history to call upon at best.
Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic Support at the National Level

Problem
Unless a student moves about with the same school district there is no continuity for
either the student’s academic record or what curriculum has been completed by the student.
Even within the same district there is still no unified platform for tracking the whole of a
student’s full academic, administrative, and curriculum development or milestones. A student
may encounter the same tracking of administrative and academic records, but not the same
methods of tracking curriculum.
As an example, a student can change mid semester within the same district and still
encounter a completely different method of how curriculum is presented and tracked. The first
teacher may be very “low tech” and simply enter final grades into a tracking system, such as
Synergy©, for each major unit completed. The following teacher may be very comfortable with
technology and promotes this within the classroom. This teacher may utilize programs, such as
Canvas©, to their fullest extent. The students, based upon availability of technology within the
classroom, may complete all their readings, reviews, essays, quizzes, and exams on a
technological platform.
This in-turn creates a problem of a different sort. The new student, who came from the
“low-tech” teacher’s classroom not only needs to learn new content, but also how to use all the
tools for completing the work in this newer technological environment. The other students in the
class have had a full semester to become comfortable with their teacher(s) and the school’s
methods of curriculum development and delivery.
The receiving teachers also have no idea what previous academic content or curriculum a
student completed at their previous school, short of calling and asking a previous teacher. In
many cases it is up to the receiving teacher(s) to determine what the student may know and how
to fit them into their current classroom in an effective manner because there was no prior
educational documentation (Kroeger & Cardy 2006). Teachers in many cases are going in blind
where new students are concerned.

Proposal
In todays age of high technology and near instantaneous communications via the internet
there is no excuse to not have an integrated national educational database system. Instead of
Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic Support at the National Level

districts and states implementing individualized systems piecemeal a top down approach should
be taken to get everyone on the same page so to speak. This would be beneficial to all
stakeholders involved in the process of education: administrators, teachers, students, and parents
at a minimum. A unified system of record and curriculum tracking would allow easy movement
of students, and the transfer of their records, within the system.
Incoming administrators would know at a glance where a student came from, what grade
they were in, if any special circumstances such as an I.E.P. or 504 contracts were connect to the
student, and any additional ancillary information such as shot history. Receiving teachers would
no longer have to make educated guesses on what curriculum has already been completed by a
new student when they can get this information with a few clicks of a mouse button. Students
would be able to transfer from one school to another and know with some degree of certainty
what they were leaving behind and where they would pick up at in their new school’s curriculum
schedule. Parents would no longer have to worry about what to collect, and keep track of during
a move, from their child’s old school to take to the new school. Some schools already have
methods for parents to track their child’s grades online. However, a system that integrates
curriculum would also ensure that they not only see the grades for work already completed, but
also be able to look at upcoming curriculum also.

Challenges and Barriers

Potential challenges to implementation of such as system would be funding at all levels
of the system to cover the purchase of the software involved. I do not include hardware at this
point because many schools are already automated to a certain extent and additional hardware
support would not be needed at the administrative level and above. If funding was needed
anywhere it would be at the student level to support additional use of technology within the
classroom. There are more than likely exceptions to this assumption that would need to be
addressed on an individual basis.
A barrier would be to get everyone to agree to adherence to such a system. Some schools
are downright defensive of their records and methods with regards to record keeping and
curriculum. Teachers may not wish to be placed under a closer spotlight concerning their
curriculum. That is why I believe this would need to be a top down implementation starting at
Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic Support at the National Level

the federal level, tied with incentives to switch over, with an eventual mandatory implementation
date to receive continual support via federal school funds.

Stakeholder Analysis

Students
While individual students may appear as a minor stakeholder in the larger scheme of
things that happen in the background of a school or district operation, they are profoundly
affected by anything tied to their curriculum. The students outnumber most of the stakeholders
within the educational system and any changes to the curriculum has a direct impact on the
students for each class they are taking.
The students are expected to adjust to any changes we make within the educational
system, and in most cases, students adjust to any change to their role within the system. In some
cases changes are transparent to the students because they never experienced the prior method of
the way things are done, or did not realize changes were even made that affect them. In the case
of a unified curriculum platform the changes would be mostly transparent to the students unless
they are directly affected by a physical move between school districts or states. In this case the
unified curriculum would allow them to move seamlessly, in most cases, between different states
or districts.

Teachers
Individual teachers may look at a unified curriculum schedule as one more thing that they
are being held accountable for. As it stands teachers have some latitude in the how of teaching
within their content area if state and national standards are being met. Some may look at this as
being held to accountable for their curriculum. Teachers are not, or would not be, asked to
change their teaching methods at all, just that a schedule of sorts is adhered to in some way.
A teacher’s role is to instruct our students, among the other things, like child
development and guiding our students to become good citizens, in their everyday classroom
setting. This role would not change beyond some ability to adhere to a schedule of sorts to
minimize impacts to students when they move between districts or states.
Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic Support at the National Level

District and/or School Administration

The role of the Schools and Districts within this system would not really change that
much. If anything, their role within the current system would be made much easier overall. As
it stands it is hit or miss on whether they get proper records for incoming students because the
responsibility for this relies primarily on the parents doing their part of the process initially.
While records may eventually be verified against those of the losing district, it takes time to
complete, initial placement decisions are based on information normally provided by some
written transcripts being delivered by a parent or guardian.
With a unified curriculum and academic tracking system administration would know at a
glance where the student came from and what their academic status is. All guesswork would be
eliminated and a lot less stress would be placed on the system in determining if a proper
placement for the student had been made. Additionally, when schools or districts receive outside
requests from colleges and universities for transcripts that portion of the workload would be
eliminated from their current duties because the process would be completely automated.

State Agencies
Currently state agencies like the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) are primarily
responsible for ensuring that districts and schools follow policies set forth by the State Board of
Education (AZLibary.gov, 2016). ADE also ensures that appropriate state funding is
apportioned to schools based on enrollment and attendance levels. State agencies are also
responsible for ensuring proper training and certification are also completed.
With an automated curriculum and academic tracking system state agencies would be
able to access information on student status daily instead of having to request this information.
A state agency’s role would also be ensuring compliance with a unified tracking system within
their state. As now, a state agency would be responsible for ensuring that proper training is
conducted in the operation of any new system that may be implemented.

Federal Agencies
The Department of Education at the federal level is more advisory than directive in
nature, fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access (Ed.gov, 2017). Ninety-two
Advocacy for Unified Curriculum and Academic Support at the National Level

percent of educational funding comes from sources at the state and local levels. While only eight
percent is provided from federal sources it still represents $8 Billion dollars in annual funding.
Most of this funding is to provide and promote equal access to education.
While not directive in nature, for the most part, the federal level does provide a
leadership role within the nations education system and would be where a unified academic and
curriculum tracking system would need to be promoted or directed from. One would hope that
states could work together in implementing a unified system, but in realistic terms in will
probably require federal oversight, as well as funding incentives, to ensure its implementation
and compliance.

Outside Agencies

Local Entities
While not directly impacted by changes within the school system with regards to unified
academic and curriculum tracking systems, local entities such as community colleges and
universities would see the immediate benefits of such a system. Instead of relying on the
currently clunky method of manual transcript requests by student applicants, colleges and
universities would have this information available with just a few clicks of a mouse button.
Additionally, this would be one less item or hurdle that aspiring college applicants would need to
contend with as part of the application process. While on-line methods currently exist for
requesting transcripts, they are still processed and sent manually via the U.S. Postal Service for
the most part.

National Entities
The benefits of a unified academic and curriculum tracking system would aid in the
transition of students from state to state. The receiving state would be able to access what the
incoming student as already completed in the way of academics and curriculum. The receiving
district could then make informed decisions on the placement of the student within the receiving
district.
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Much like the benefits seen for local colleges and universities, out of state colleges and
universities, in relationship to a student’s “home” state, would also benefit from an integrated
system at the national level. It would speed up the application and approval, or rejection, process
greatly. Students and aspiring applicants would also get feedback on the application much
quicker also.
Companies like Microsoft© and similar businesses who do business with schools would
have the opportunity to expand their customer base even further. Companies like Microsoft©
already have software that allows for integration of academics and curriculum (Microsoft.com,
2018). Rather than selling programs piecemeal to individual districts, schools, departments, or
even individual teachers these businesses would be able to sell and implement a nationwide
integrated system. The benefits would extend beyond the initial sale as the system would also
need to be maintained after its implementation. With buying power at the national level, the cost
per unit savings for mass purchases would be significant for the end users.

Parents and Guardians

Currently the largest burden on parents is gathering the school records for each of their
children when moving from one school district to another. With an integrated system this burden
would disappear completely and the parent(s) or guardians could focus on other matters like the
logistics of the actual move.
Additionally, a side-effect of an integrated system would be the capability of a parent or
guardian to see the status of their children’s work within each of their courses, given proper
access. This would eliminate the guesswork on the parent’s part as to the status of their child
within the classroom. It would also allow for easy communication between the home and school
because the parent or guardian would already have some inkling of where their child is
struggling in school, if applicable.

Tax-Payers
Parents, non-parents, and businesses alike fall into the category of those affected by
funding any education initiative. The money to fund any program, new or existing, has to come
from somewhere. A large portion of this funding comes from the taxpaying public. The
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implementation of any new programs within the education system has to have funding to support
it if it is to be successful. This support however is not just in the form of funding the initial
program, but in supporting the continued existence of the new program.
The current role of supporting the education system through paying taxes would not
change. The change, if any, may be in the level of funding needed to support a new program at
the national level. This may entail additional tax money needing to be gathered to pay and
maintain it.

Environmental Analysis

Internal Strengths
For the most part, regardless of the school district, schools are predominately known to
keep accurate records on students. These records cover a variety of topics about a student, such
as how many days they were absent, what their grades were as of the last reporting period, and
what their current grade level is, just to name a few (Kroeger and Cardy, 2006). These records
are stored behind fairly solid firewalls, both virtually and physically, to prevent unauthorized
access and are generally supported by a knowledgeable Information Technology (IT) staff or
department at both the school and district levels.
Depending on the school’s target grade level(s) the department’s curriculum may be
limited to 2-4 teachers or as many as a dozen or more teachers teaching different content under
the umbrella of one department heading (Taylor, 2018). In either scenario curriculum is
generally well developed by the staff through a series of meetings to identify any issues that
could prevent implementation, especially with new content. Every effort is made to address
content standards where applicable, but in most cases the individual teachers exercise the “how”
in their individual classrooms, fitting them to their individualized style of teaching that best fits
their style or proven practice.
The greatest internal strength is the dedication of the teachers themselves to instruct their
students in the best way possible. This, coupled with a strong support system, ensures that
curriculum is developed and implemented in a manner that is most beneficial to the student.

Internal Weaknesses
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In some cases, the greatest strengths can also be the cause of a greater weakness. People
can be very protective of their methods and be unwilling to share with others. One example of
this is that sometimes people, even teachers, do not like to share their strategies or lessons with
other teachers lest they be criticized. The downside to this is that this teacher may have the
greatest program or lesson ever created, but out of fear or defensiveness they may not wish to
share that information with others. Teachers need to be able to share their curriculum progress,
for example, without fear of being criticized for being to far ahead or to far behind the rest of the
content teachers within the school or district.
What makes schools and district strong in the way of record keeping also makes them
very wary of outside influences. The most formidable person I have met in my life is the
individual who is responsible for keeping student records, the school registrar. These are
individuals who zealously safeguard the records under their charge and are ever vigilant to
prevent outside interference. But, this is a weakness as well because these individuals are loath
to give up even a smidgen of control over the records in their care. They do not like to share and
this would be an obstacle to overcome when tying into a shared record keeping system.
In the area of curriculum, we are continually asking our teachers to use technology more
and more within the classrooms. But, this is a problem also. There is no unified system, even
within the same school departments, that is used by all teachers. There are a lot of programs out
there for use and the possibilities may seem endless. A downside to this is that many of these
systems and programs do not mesh together or allow the easy transfer of data from one platform
to another, if at all. For example, in the Mesa Unified School District all the schools use
Synergy© for the recording and tracking of student records and attendance (mpsaz.org, 2018).
But that is the extent of its use within the classroom. Any other software that is used is pretty
much at the discretion of the teacher, such as utilizing Canvas© for homework, quizzes, or exams
(Kaye, 2017).
What this all leads to is a haphazard system of curriculum tracking and implementation.
Granted, teacher absences, fire drills, and other similar factors can cause slight deviations in
curriculum progress from teacher to teacher, which is expected. But there is nothing in-place
that tells another teacher where a particular class or student is progress wise within the
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curriculum. Nobody is asking that teachers and students across the district be in lock-step on a
curriculum schedule, just that we can see where or what has been completed progress wise.

External Opportunities
In today’s technologically saturated world there are endless possibilities at hand that can
be utilized and tied together on a global basis. Tying something together technologically at the
state or national level would be easy to implement. Companies like Microsoft© and Google©
have a variety of suites available for use such as Microsoft’s Student Lifecycle and Success
Management or Teaching and l\Learning Management (Microsoft.com, 2018). Another suite
being explored is Google’s Curriculum Mapping with G Suite (EdTechTeam.com, 2017). These
are just the tip of the opportunity iceberg and is by no means a limited list. It is just a matter of
choosing one system and going with its implementation.

External Challenges
Several barriers or challenges exist to implementing a unified curriculum tracking
system. The first of these would be funds to pay for the implementation of any system. This
would require support at all levels, not just locally. Following this would be the challenge of
getting everyone in agreement with what system to use, and whether implementation would be
voluntary or forced. Forced use would require a penalty of some sort for non-compliance. The
next would be governmental oversight or direction requiring the implementation of the system.
To be universally or nationally successful would require the Department of Education at the
national level to oversee or direct the implementation of a unified curriculum tracking system.
Support would need to be garnered at the local level, specifically public support because
ultimately the taxpayers are going to be the ones who pay for any system that is implemented. If
they are not sold on the benefits associated with a unified curriculum system, which leads to a
student “career” type record that makes college application as easy as the click of a mouse key,
they are not going to assist or vote for its funding.
While not strictly an external challenge alone, it is getting all of the various staff,
teachers, and districts to change their methodology over to a new system. To many times
nobody wants to share with others when it comes to how they do things. The external challenge
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here would be getting the different school systems to cooperate in the long run. It needs to
become natural that districts share their curriculum and records openly with other districts and
schools without hesitation in an electronic format.
The last challenge would be getting the system in-place and acceptable for use beyond
the K-12 educational systems. It needs to become a curriculum and educational system that
supports or is easily transferrable to institutes of high education. A student’s “career” should be
easily searchable, given proper permissions are in place, by any school of higher learning that a
students wishes to apply to. The time savings alone in the application evaluation process,
translatable to dollars saved, should be an incentive for any education institution.

Reflection

A unified academic and curriculum record keeping system may be a reality someday but
probably not something that we will see anytime soon. But as technology progresses and the
world gets smaller and smaller, metaphorically speaking, it will be a reality someday. We
already see similar applications in the business world with applications like bank transfers
between different banking organizations that are initiated and completed by just the customer
without assistance from either financial agency becoming involved in the process. The
capability is out there but it is not being used on a mass scale by any schools other than those
who are more forward thinking than others.

I learned that while some districts are seeking to unify their records and teaching
curriculum it all comes down to having the money to pay for it. This is especially hard to
accomplish in a state that ranks 49th in school funding as compared to all the other states. This is
an ongoing issue that will need to be addressed by the state legislature and approved by the
voters at some point. Something will have to give at some point if we are to keep our students
on a competitive track with the rest of the nation’s students. In the long run an integrated system
has the potential to save money by removing redundant personnel and reducing personnel hours
that are spent on transferring data between non-compatible systems.

Synergy© currently appears to be the product of choice within the Mesa Unified District
as an example. But is not being utilized to its full potential. It has the ability to interface with
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other academic and curriculum programs like Canvas©, but it is not being utilized in this manner
for a reason I was unable to discover the answer to. In some cases, I noted an us versus them
mentality between administrative and educational staff. Everyone appeared to believe that the
other side would mess up their work or data if the other half was allowed access to their
programs and work product. With a unified academic and curriculum record keeping system
perhaps the school staff on both sides of the equation would understand that there is no need to
be defensive and feel threatened by their co-workers.

So, where can we go from here? Microsoft© has several programs that are designed to
interface with educational record and curriculum systems, such as OneNote©, that are available
now for use. Using the software from a single company would make the process of integrating
all of the moving parts into one unified system that much smoother. For this to happen however
the direction or guidance must come from a higher authority because at this point individual
districts do their own thing and really do not cooperate or communicate well with other districts.
This is where the U.S. Department of Education may need to intervene. It may take the
department putting pressure on states and districts to make this a reality at the state level and
lower. This can be done by way of incentives or grants to fund the overhead costs involved with
unifying the systems. This same persuasive method can be used at the state level to ensure
districts unify their systems as well.

The most important part is the affect it can have on the students’ academic lives.
Students would be able to move smoothly between the different school districts and parents
would be comfortable in the knowledge that their child’s records would seamlessly transfer from
one district to the next. With a unified system the student’s records and curriculum to date have
the potential to arrive at the new district before the student does, even if they change or move to
another state. Hours of student and parent time could be saved on out-processing and in-
processing students and their records. Students would have the ability to walk in the front office,
check-in at their new school and because their parents approved everything online the night
before, head straight to their new courses. The only downside, if anyone would even call it that,
is that nobody would be able to cheat the system because the gaining school has everything from
the old school just a few mouse clicks away.
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I know that moving forward I will always have one eye on where tomorrows technology
is headed within the schools and districts. As a voter and tax payer I will also need to support or
deny changes that I see as not meeting the end goal. As a teacher it would be nice to be able to
move between districts without having to relearn the technology side of things over and over
each time I transferred. This alone would allow me to spend more time at my new school
working on important issues such as lesson plans and curriculum instead of having my time
eaten up learning a new academic or curriculum system. I look forward to seeing where
technology is headed in our school systems and whether everyone will eventually get on the
same page where academic and curriculum record keeping is concerned.
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References

AZ Library.gov (2016) https://www.azlibrary.gov/sla/agency_histories/arizona-department-

education-ade Accessed: February 26th, 2018

Ed.gov (2017) https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html Accessed: 2/15/2018

Kroeger, J., & Cardy, T. (2006). Documentation: A Hard to Reach Place. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 33(6), 389-398. doi:10.1007/s10643-006-0062-6

EdTechTeam.com, (2017). https://www.edtechteam.com/blog/2017/01/curriculum-mapping-

with-g-suite/, accessed 2/15/2018

Kaye, S., (2017). Social Studies Teacher, Seventh Grade, Carson Junior High School.

Kroeger, J., & Cardy, T. (2006). Documentation: A Hard to Reach Place. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 33(6), 389-398. doi:10.1007/s10643-006-0062-6

Microsoft.com, (2018). https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/school-leaders/create-

innovative-schools/default.aspx, accessed: 2/15/2018

Mpsaz.org, (2018). http://www.mpsaz.org/infosys/help/, accessed: 2/15/2018

Taylor, C., (2018). Department Chair, Social Studies, Dobson High School.