Out-of-state consultants critique city school district

Visitors have been funded by the Los Angeles-based education reform Broad Foundation. They include Terry Abbott, press secretary to former Education Secretary Rod Paige, and Arlene Ackerman, former superintendent of the San Francisco and Washington school districts.

Visitors have examined the district's:

•Image.

•Media policies.

•Curriculum and instruction.

The curriculum and instruction audit took four, 16-hour days of interviews with everyone from the superintendent to students and teachers to see how the district's teaching lines up with state standards and how effective it is.

"They're coming in, doing a snapshot (of the district) based on their experience,” Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent John Q. Porter said of the consultants. "They're digging layers and layers down in the organization at a very fast rate.”

•Finances.