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[quote=Anonymous]The Department (used to be Office) of Shared Accountability is woefully behind.  They only have a few staff, and projects routinely are delayed by years, sometimes falling off as the specifics become less relevant.  It seems that the combination of major events (e.g., the pandemic) and under-resourcing/staff vacancies are at play, but that supposition might belie an additional cause -- institutionalized ineffectiveness.

The need to involve/consult Shared Accountability regularly is cited by other branches of MCPS as a reason that particular actions cannot be taken or particular information cannot be made available in any timely fashion.  Even many items on which it would be important for the BOE to act languish in a hypothetical DSA queue.

In addition, many DSA/OSA projects appear to be poorly defined in relation to their titular or perceived purpose.  More rigorous and pointed examination of MCPS regulations and operations likely would evidence uncomfortable truths, requiring policy or other change not in alignment with the aims of MCPS high-level stakeholders.

In this case, one might posit that the oft-derided "honors for all" secondary ELA model would be at risk.  Given the many anecdotes, it is unlikely that DSA, with a properly defined and executed review, would find that, as currently implemented, the Honors English curriculum is delivering Honors-appropriate learning with fidelity across the system.  That may put the model, important to several high-level stakeholders and stakeholder groups, at risk across a number of subjects.

As Dr. Taylor noted when asked about DSA project prioritization, if the BOE wanted different items addressed from the 8 listed for FY26, they would need either to identify some listed to eliminate or fund additional DSA review capacity in the MCPS budget.  Per the presentation, the secondary literacy honors audit was added last year (FY25) as others were canceled.  While one would expect that it continues, the presentation listed the ongoing/completed status only of FY24 projects.  Hopefully, an updated presentation to the BOE later this month, where a Board vote is expected, will elucidate.

What might be required is a change to Shared Accountability policy, itself.  On the one hand, that would be to ensure that its necessary functions are well defined and appropriately resourced to provide timely information in support of the BOE and other stakeholders.  As part of that, requiring better definition of projects, clearly specifying the questions that must be addressed by the analyses, would help.

On the other hand, it [i]should[/i] be to keep the rest of MCPS from utilizing the spectre of some unnecessary, if possibly beneficial, DSA involvement when withholding information/dragging their feet on action.[/quote]

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