Reply to Who (in particulr) is to blame for the idea of 2.0?

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[quote=Anonymous]The problems preceded 2.0.  The curriculum department had been creating it's own (abysmal) curriculum prior to 2.0.  Eric Lang may have been the head of the department,  but the whole curriculum department seemed to be on board.

I think Weast was setting the tone.  There was lots of talk about a 21st century education (technology for technology's sake), being one of the best school systems in the country (developing a special, proprietary curriculum and marketing it to the lesser, normal systems - who didn't want it, masking negative data),  closing the achievement gap (avoiding ability grouping, masking negative data), and teaching higher order thinking (minimizing content).

I was on the reading curriculum committee at one time and the people in charge of the reading curriculum seemed more interested in implementing their preferred pedagogical approaches than in actually teaching the subject content.  Judging from the assignments I saw in other subjects, I would say this was the prevailing attitude in the curriculum department.

My kids were prior to 2.0, but as I understand it, this is what changed:

2.0 added science and social studies selections into the reading curriculum to compensate for the weakness in teaching those subjects.

2.0 was developed online, supposedly making it easier for teachers to supplement the material, collaborate with each other, and customize the lessons for their students.  I don't know how well it succeeded in these areas, but it made the curriculum completely inaccessible to parents.  Prior to that, they had distributed it in binders to the teachers.  Parents could access it, but only on site at the school library or the library in the central office.  They restricted access because of concerns that a) tests might be compromised and b) the material might be pirated

2.0 marked the start of the partnership with Pearson.  Pearson was going to market the curriculum.  MCPS had tried to market previous versions themselves with little success.

I know that prior to 2.0, the curriculum revisions would sometimes reach teachers only days before they had to start teaching the revised curriculum.  I would hope that 2.0 has provided them more stability, but I honestly don't know.

Information on the curriculum changes that occurred when 2.0 was implemented can be found here:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/2.0/

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/2.0/faq.aspx

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