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Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment
In the Methuen Public Schools, curriculum, instruction, and assessment are the heart of our work. We are constantly working to enhance these areas in order to provide the very best learning opportunities for our students. Curriculum guides have been developed to incorporate the standards in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, a rigorous set of expectations defining what all students should know and be able to do at the completion of each grade. These guides are updated regularly, through the collaboration of teachers across the district. Our teachers use the curriculum guides and related resources to provide effective instruction. To assist teachers in making sure their teaching addresses the curricula, the district has a professional development program that includes full graduate courses, workshops, and support from instructional coaches in English language arts, mathematics, and the teaching of English language learners. Supervisors also regularly visit classrooms to monitor curriculum implementation and identify teacher and student needs. Assessment of student achievement has recently been a major focus for the district. Professional development—in the form of workshops and a graduate course—helps teachers to design classroom assessments that are standards-based. Through the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), students are assessed annually in English language arts and mathematics in grades 3 through 8 and grade 10. MCAS assessments in science are also given in grades 5, 8, and 10. At both the district and school levels, MCAS data are analyzed to help us determine areas for curriculum revision and to assist teachers in meeting their students’ learning needs. MCAS data are also used during Performance Improvement Mapping (PIM) sessions, when school-based teams identify goals and prepare action plans to be included in their annual School Improvement Plans. Objectives and item analyses of MCAS provide very detailed information about our students’ progress toward mastery of the standards. Through a contract with schoolBrains, Methuen has designed district-wide formative assessments to help us improve student achievement. Schoolbrains offers a test bank of thousands of items developed by ETS and Measured Progress, along with the capability to build our own assessments using both the item bank and locally developed items. Starting in the 2008-2009 school year, using schoolBrains, a team of instructional coaches, coordinators, and teachers has developed interim assessments in English language arts and mathematics to be administered twice a year in grades 2 through 10. Data from these assessments, along with MCAS and other local assessments, will be stored in the schoolBrains database. From her classroom computer, a teacher will be able to see at a glance how her individual students and the class as a whole are progressing toward mastery of specific standards. It will be possible also to track students’ progress from one grade to the next, thus easing students’ transitions. Methuen is phasing-in a new, standards-based report card for grades K-6. We believe that these report cards will provide parents and guardians with much more information about their children’s progress toward mastering the Massachusetts learning standards. Designed by Methuen teachers and administrators,with imput from parents, these report cards allow teachers to provide feedback on specific skills and knowledge that our students are learning. As always, we welcome feedback from parents and guardians on this initiative.
As you can see, our faculty and administrators are working hard to provide the highest quality education to Methuen’s students. Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions regarding curriculum, instruction, and assessment in the Methuen Public Schools. Jennifer A. Smith, Ed. D.
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