Baltimore County school officials say hiring a national education firm is a necessary step in revamping the system’s existing curriculum, which was criticized in an independent audit earlier this year.

“We simply didn’t have the capacity in-house to do this,” Baltimore County school board President JoAnne Murphy said. “We don’t want to lose six years of some child’s life waiting to make a change. People were questioning the money, but it will be spent.”

The school board approved a three-year, $7.4 million contract with the New-York based Kaplan K12 Learning Services Division firm in a recent meeting.

The county is overhauling its curriculum based on a recent audit by Phi Delta Kappa Curriculum Management Services Inc. The audit found there were significant gaps in Baltimore County schools’ written curriculum and what’s being taught in the schools.

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Sonia Diaz, the school’s chief academic officer, said she met with representatives from the company extensively before picking Kaplan. She said its work in Philadelphia and Chicago proved it is capable of working to improve the county’s curriculum.

“Having worked in different states, I was very comfortable with what I saw in terms of their work,” said Diaz, who also worked in New Mexico and Connecticut.

Kaplan will work with the county to tailor the curriculum to Baltimore County schools. Diaz said the schools have already provided Kaplan with existing curriculum guides and priorities identified by a focus group.

“It really is about their response to us in terms of the need identified by us both by the audit, the staff and focus groups,” Diaz said.

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com