The Evesham Township Board of Education presented findings from the district’s curriculum audit – completed in the spring – to the public on June 16.
All curriculum components were analyzed using a rubric aligned with Science of Reading and evidence-based literacy components. Four possible designations for the rubric were exemplary alignment (component is comprehensively integrated with multiple examples and supports); effective alignment (component is clearly present with adequate support materials); minimal alignment (component is minimally present or lacks sufficient support); and not present (component is absent or contradicts research).
Results for the full curriculum document showed the overall curriculum rating at 3.74 and the implementation fidelity rating at 3.7. Curriculum component ratings showed phonological awareness at 4.0; phonics/morphemic analysis and decoding instruction at 3.34; fluency development at 4.0; language comprehension at 3.6; writing instruction at 3.63; assessment at 3.84; and appropriateness at 3.8. But several residents who attended the meeting felt that the report findings do not align with what they’re seeing as parents.
“I’ve never seen or have been able to have an answer by a teacher to … “What is my child’s mastery of (a) specific skill,” said Marlton resident Amanda Gauntt. “In terms of informational text being an area of strength, that’s also something I just can’t say I’ve seen in this district … In terms of the decodable text, I hope that you all consider that you can’t just throw decodable text in a classroom and think that (it’s) going to work if (it’s) not aligned with the scope and sequence of the phonics program that you’re using …
“To be honest,” Gauntt added, “I’m quite shocked at these results. It seems very overly positive and like open, honest feedback wasn’t necessarily shared at this public meeting.”
“Coming from a parent perspective and not an educator, I see my child, hear my child talking a lot about nothing,” noted Marlton resident Danielle Palmer. “He goes to school, he comes home, I ask him what he read… “Dog Man.” If you’re not familiar with the series, a lot of “Dog Man” is full of nonsense words and nothingness … As a parent, I’m disappointed in the quality of education he’s receiving.
“I also want my child to be a child when he comes home,” she added. “I don’t want him to have to come home and work with me just so I know that there isn’t a gap, there isn’t going to be a gap forming and he will be able to compete with his peers when he leaves Marlton, New Jersey, sometime in the future.”
“I am alarmed by the data that I see for Evesham students,” explained another parent, Claire Bennett. “ … Hearing this report and looking at the actual data, it seems like we are missing a lot of information about what is actually contributing to those results, which are abysmal …
“We didn’t hear anything about building background knowledge, text complexity … ” she continued. “That’s a big question that I have, because reading results are not just about the systematic phonics instruction, which is important, but there is an entire element of the science of reading that I didn’t hear mention at all tonight.
“As a future parent of an Evesham student, I’m very concerned, and I hope by the time my student joins kindergarten, we would be seeing significant change in the way that literacy instruction is currently happening, because I am alarmed by what I heard tonight.”
All the curriculum audit findings are available online under the board of ed tab at www.evesham.k12.nj.us.
Later in the meeting, it was announced that Superintendent Justin Smith will rescind his retirement on Sept. 1 and stay on until the district selects a new head sometime later this year.
Students from Marlton and DeMasi middle schools were recognized for their participation in clubs and theater, and the former’s softball team was recognized for recently winning the South Jersey Middle School Softball League championship.
With the win, Marlton Middle has won the championship in back-to-back seasons.
“Every single one of them, they step up, they swing, they play,” said coach Christopher Thomas of the team. “If something doesn’t go their way, they put it behind them – we call it the Goldfish mentality – it’s three seconds and they move on.
“They’re amazing.”
“Every single one of them, they step up, they swing, they play,” said coach Christopher Thomas (second from left), of the South Jersey softball league champs.
