Dr. Foregger’s Response to BOE Candidate Question 3: Academic Achievement

Oct 19, 2024

Dr. Foregger’s Response to the Third in Our Series of Questions to the 2024 BOE Candidates

1. As BOE Members, what are your plans for continuing the work of the current majority in opening up the discussions on proficiency?

2. How do you plan on holding the District accountable for improving Academic Achievement?

While Math appears to be a focus, our proficiency in Science is even more abysmal.

3. How do you see your approach to broadening the lens through which the District tackles the problem of our declines?

I am delighted, of course, that after more than 2 years of prodding on my part, the current administration has shown a willingness to address the issue of the district’s mediocre proficiency scores, at least in Mathematics.

We are fortunate that Dr.Curtiss has come up with a methodology and proposed a solution that seems to hold great promise. Her recommendations include returning an 8th grade math option to the curriculum, looking at ways to provide more math instructional time, and providing additional professional development for the math teachers.

If I continue on the Board I would request that the administrative team in science and ELA do similar analyses to investigate the reasons for the mediocre scores in those areas and come to us with recommendations for how we could improve proficiency. Based on what Dr. Curtiss did for mathematics, this could involve a careful analysis of the current curriculum, comparisons of our offerings and instructional time with those of other more successful districts, and matching of the written curriculum to the state standards.

However, as a Board member I can only work with the Superintendent on this problem and cannot give directions to anyone else. And even then the allowed ethical approach of a Board member has to be to make suggestions and ask questions, either at a Board meeting or in a committee. I would like to see the Board include as part of its district goals an improvement of proficiency results over the next few years.

Disclaimer: The above statements are made in my capacity as a private citizen, and not in my capacity as a board member. These statements are also not representative of the board or its individual members, and solely represent my own personal opinions.

Read Dr. Foregger’s Response to Question 1 ( Transparency) and Question 2 (Budget Priorities)