ARIN Curriculum Department-Keeping Up with Increasing Demands

Patricia A. Garner, ARIN Curriculum Coordinator

ARIN's Curriculum Department continues to support the needs of its districts and to adjust to the increasing responsibilities placed on intermediate units by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. As this department transitions from the leadership of Patty Garner, who is retiring August 29, to the leadership of a new Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, certain services and programs will need to continue while some will require review by the new department leader.

High demand for services will continue to be around school improvement planning support for districts and schools. Schools in Armstrong and Indiana Counties have done well overall in hitting Pennsylvania's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets from 2002-2008. Over that time only three schools have been required to write improvement plans, assisted by ARIN. However, the 2008 jump in percentages targeted for proficiency in math and reading to 56% and 63% respectively has resulted in several schools moving into "Warning" on the AYP consequence ladder this school year. Unofficially (until the appeals process is complete), 14 schools in Armstrong and Indiana Counties fall into the 2008 "Warning" category. Should they not make AYP in 2009, they will be required to write school improvement plans that must be reviewed by intermediate unit staff and signed off on by ARIN's Executive Director. This potentially could be overwhelming for the Curriculum Department. With the trajectory of percentages now jumping more quickly through the 100% proficiency targets for 2014, the need for both proactive school improvement planning as well as the required school improvement planning that goes with not making AYP will tax the Curriculum Department's resources and ability to assist.

Another area of high demand is related to ARIN's wide area network involvement in the Northwest Regional Wide Area Network Consortium. With the WAN infrastructure mostly built, and with the promise of a statewide network called PAIUnet on the horizon, the Curriculum Department has the responsibility of now providing leadership for the content to go out over the network. Facilitating the newly formed LEARN/WAN Advisory Group, being active on the regional and state levels of content planning, and providing appropriate training both for district staffs and ARIN's staff, could in itself be a full time assignment.

Currently the Curriculum Department has two members, one of whom will be contracted out for 80% of her time to a school district in 2008-2009. ARIN and its districts will need to review the needs of districts and the requirements from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to determine what priorities will steer the Curriculum Department over the next few years, particularly through the 2014 NCLB mandate. It will need to look at its departmental services "flow chart" to determine how best to serve its districts and meet its responsibilities.

The Curriculum Department, in spite of its size, provides many services which should not be lost along the way as the demands of AYP-related school improvement services grow. Professional development opportunities for new teacher induction, for teachers of the gifted, and for area education secretaries need to continue. Current training and support should continue for important programs like Response to Intervention (RtI) and Reading Apprenticeship. Additional responsibilities identified by PDE and handled through the Curriculum Department will continue to come its way, including PDE information rollouts for things like e-Strategic Planning, PVAAS, 4SIGHT, eMetric, and the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence (PGSE). Regional data gathering and analysis around student academic performance, a vital service, should continue to occur. The Curriculum Department will also need to continue active participation on the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units Curriculum Coordinators (PAIU-CC), an invaluable source of networking and information.

The new Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction will need to review current involvement in two student-related programs. The Mentor Program, a collaboration between ARIN and Indiana University of Pennsylvania faculty that provides Saturday morning classes at IUP for advanced and talented students from late January to early April, may need to be reinvented or dropped due to increasing attendance issues with students who are nominated by their districts. ARIN's Summer School Program, a credit recovery program, would also benefit from a review and reworking to include online and enrichment classes. Responsibilities will also include serving as ARIN's Act 48 Coordinator, Induction Coordinator, and e-Strategic Plan Coordinator and participating on ARIN's Management Team. The department supervisor will facilitate Curriculum Council and will report monthly to the Superintendents' Advisory Council (SAC).

An intermediate unit's Curriculum Department is the regional "front line" for services relating to improving teaching and learning in order to bring more students to their fullest potential. The ARIN Board of Directors, superintendents and ARIN administration are instrumental in ensuring that ARIN's Curriculum Department is supported in a way that enables it to serve fully the schools and districts in Armstrong and Indiana Counties.