SMCAA History

In 1996 - Six administrators in charge of curriculum (Richard Phillips, Emmett Sawyer, John Urkevich, Cliff Mohn, Ray Doudy, Wayne Wheeler, and Larch Farrell  met with Mike Willard in Columbia to discuss the need for a state-wide curriculum organization. Plans were developed and in 1997 a meeting was held in Columbia to introduce the idea.

Richard Phillips  First SMCAA President

 Group leaders, Richard Phillips, Cliff Mohn, John Urkevich, Wayne Wheeler, and Mike Willard led discussions for the 125 in attendance and the work began on structuring the organization. Richard Phillips, John Urkevich, Nick Ginos, Emmett Sawyer, and Paula Sprouse served on the committee to select an Executive Director.  Richard Phillips and Larch Farrell also met with Dr.Orlo Schroyer, DESE, to secure a grant from the Department to help get the organization started. On July 1, 1998 the organization officially began with Mike Willard as Executive Director. Office space was rented on Dix Road in Jefferson City and Bess Tighe was hired as an administrative assistant.  Executive Committee members  included Richard Phillips (President), John Urkevich (Vice President), Emmett Sawyer, Cliff Mohn, Nick Ginos, Paula Sprouse, Connie Hurst-Bayless, Vic Lenz, Wayne Wheeler, and Larch Farrell, as an advisor.

Tony English, Assistant Superintendent from the Eldon school district, was hired as Assistant Director in 2001 and was named as Director in 2005. Sharon Waite, Assistant Superintendent from the Mexico school district, was hired as a consultant in 2004 and became Assistant Director in 2005. Dr. Wesley Bird, formerly DESE Math Coordinator, was hired as a consultant in 2007. In 2008, Sharon Waite was named Director and Dr. Bird became the Assistant Director with Chris Niemoeller, Curriculum Director from the Northwest school district, hired as a consultant. Both Tony English and Mike Willard continue to conduct workshops and work on a part-time basis.

SMCAA was created to help school districts improve curriculum leading to increased student achievement.  The specific target of achievement was the MAP Tests.  Feedback to school districts from MAP Tests consisted of a three digit number. Information regarding the content and applications assessed was not available.

 In response to the need for the information, Mike Willard began work in 1998 with IML to create the first Electronic Alignment Tool (EAT).  IML secured a grant to create a program that would align local curriculum with the Show-Me Content Standards.  Mike identified the needed curriculum components and got IML to create a relational database so teachers could align more than the Content Standards. 

Early in 1999, SMCAA and IML wrote a grant to expand the EAT to include alignment with Process Standards and the ability to generate reports to help analyze the written curriculum.

Starting with the 1999-2000 school year, SMCAA began using EAT in their curriculum development trainings to show teachers how to use it to store their written curriculum electronically. SMCAA also began active work to advise IML regarding needed functions and enhancements that would help teachers as they worked to strengthen their curriculum.

Today SMCAA holds two annual conferences, one in the fall and one in the spring, in-district curriculum development workshops, formative assessment institutes across the state, curriculum director training workshops, curriculum training workshops for administrators, district curriculum reviews, and a curriculum – instruction-assessment academy for new teachers, as well as consultation for districts working to improve their curriculum as a guide to increase student achievement.