Siegel: MUSD spending money well for curriculum upgrades

Jun 6, 2017

By Murray Siegel

The Maricopa schools (MUSD) administration has maintained they are working to upgrade the teaching and the learning in their schools. With funds now available thanks to the override and Proposition 123, the office responsible for teaching and learning is in the process of providing tools to enhance the effectiveness of the district’s teachers and enable students to learn more of what they need to know.

There are two members of the district’s staff whose primary function is implementing the programs that will accomplish the desired result. They are Krista Roden, director of teaching and learning, and Wade Watson, director of curriculum and instruction.

Although their titles seem equivalent, Watson works for Roden. They appear to work well on their common goals. Watson’s background was in secondary schools while Roden worked in elementary schools, so they complement each other and use their different experiences to meld together an effort to improve student results in our schools.

Among the actions being taken to provide upgrades to learning are:

• The purchase of a new K-12 mathematics curriculum with leading-edge technology to help individualize instruction.

• A new K-4 phonics program to build student-decoding skills, which should elevate the reading ability of students.

• A project-based mathematics and science program through the Buck Institute.

• A major upgrade in student assessment as the Galileo program is replaced by School City, which has been found to be more teacher-friendly while it integrates assessment with instruction.

• The purchase of 595 new computers to ensure the district’s hardware matches the curriculum software.

• The hiring of two instructional technology experts to assist in the integration of curriculum and technology.

• Expansion of the gifted program.

• Greater participation in the middle school blended-learning program (20+1) – it is estimated that half of the students at Maricopa Wells MS will be in this program for the 2017-18 school year.

• The Copa Kids Camp at Butterfield ES, which combines academics with fun activities under a theme of “A Trip Around the World.”

• A professional development opportunity for teachers to learn strategies for developing higher levels of learning using the Kagan method.

• A middle school program that will allow every seventh and eighth grade student to have access to a computer in mathematics class.

Krista Roden and Wade Watson look forward to overseeing these programs and realizing significant learning gains for all students at all grade levels. Residents of Maricopa concerned about education should feel a growing optimism about the results to be expected for MUSD.

Murray Siegel has a PhD in MathEd and 42 years of teaching experience. He and his wife Sharon are volunteer teachers of advanced math classes at Butterfield Elementary School