Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic  

Education — The district will need to make some minor policy updates and is behind schedule on curriculum adoption

The Newberg School District’s annual Division 22 report was highlighted by Newberg High School coming into compliance with the state’s new standards for instructional time, but it also included some areas in which the district is not fully up to standards set by the Oregon Department of Education.

Dropout prevention and credit recovery coordinator Mikaela Schamp, who presented the report to the school board at its Jan. 12 meeting, said that the district has been out of compliance in a few areas for the last few years but that progress has been made.

In assessing the district, Schamp found it to be fully out of compliance with two regulations, specifically pertaining to curriculum adoption and media programs, and partially incompliant in three others.

Schamp reported that the district is one year behind the state’s timeline for adopting language arts curriculum with regard to purchasing state-adopted instructional materials, but it will come into compliance on the next report after it completes the process this spring.

After Oregon moved away from a seven-year cycle for adopting state-approved curriculum, Schamp said Newberg has been intentional in delaying adoption in language arts, math and science amid its push for digital conversion across the district.

With regard to language arts, that meant taking more time to research its options, which has also helped push back its timeline for math and science, which will not be completed in time to meet the state’s goals for adoption in 2016-17 (math) and 2017-18 (science). Schamp said that concerns and uncertainty about funding in the second year of the current biennium, including expected hits from impending changes to PERS, have made the district more cautious in purchasing materials for math and science.

“The bigger concern was getting materials that are going to function well for kids in the 21st century rather than following (the state’s) push,” Schamp said. “Between making sure that we’re really evaluating good tools for kids and then the funding piece for math and science, those are our two biggest obstacles.”

Newberg also reported being out of compliance for Division 22 regulations for media programs because the district does not have a comprehensive district-wide library program that is overseen at each school by a licensed librarian/media specialist.

In addition to citing funding as a long-time limitation that has kept most schools in the state out of compliance in this area, Schamp and district director of teaching and learning Stafford Boyd noted to the board that the current regulation is based on an outdated 20th-century model.

Both reported that the district’s push for digital conversion is rapidly moving it towards a 21st century model and helping it make tremendous strides towards adhering to the spirit of the law, which is to provide students with access to media and information.

In that sense, the district is doing better than the current regulation requires, according to Schamp.

“At this point with the professional development model that’s been put into place in Newberg, we’re actually trying to get teachers to the point where they are the ones facilitating that learning for kids in multiple ways,” Schamp said.

Among the areas of partial incompliance, Schamp reported that Newberg has consistently been unable to meet the requirements regarding physical education instructional minutes per week for middle school, as it was not examining its schedule or calculating time correctly according to the standard.

The district has also come up short in providing physical education instruction time in elementary school, but has made steady increases over the last few years.

Schamp noted the district is partially out of compliance with regard to its policies on child abuse reporting and its comprehensive guidance and counseling program.

She described both as robust policies that are lacking a few particular subcomponents that will be addressed by board committees in the coming year.

The district’s policy on child abuse reporting does not currently require the district, per state regulations, to notify the employee who originally filed a report when the district takes action.

The comprehensive guidance and counseling policy will need to be updated with language about the support it provides students, which must also be based on the ODE K-12 framework.