Reply to Sales of Curriculum 2.0

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a whole, I don't mind the curriculum but there is a definite LACK of resources available for teachers.  For instance, in the old curriculum most elementary schools had math text books and their workbook resources.  In the new Curriculum, when you log onto the website to do your planning there is a blurb describing the lesson, ONE worksheet (that I usually use for my small group instruction) and MAYBE a link to a Pearson video clip that does a short demonstration of the math strategy.  There's usually one video clip a week (sometimes two).. [b]So as a grade-level team, we have to create seatwork, centers, homework, and assessments from scratch.[/b]  Under the old curriculum we might have had to create centers but homework could have been from the Harcourt workbook that we copied, assessments were made by the county (with data tracked and monitored by central office).  I know this sounds like a negative post...but honestly, under 2.0 my kids have a much stronger number sense than before.  However, the roll-out and relative lack of supporting materials makes it more work for the classroom teacher who is trying to plan for math, reading groups, writer's workshop, science/SS on a daily basis.[/quote]

The amount of teaching material that is being developed on a school by school basis is creating unequal teaching standards throughout the county.  Some schools out pace others on the county tests simply because some school teams do a better job developing materials to teach the new curriculum.  Data that reflects unequal achievements are the final exam scores published in the Washington Post.  On an individual level, I had two children taking the same math course at different MCPS schools.  The units were taught in different orders, one used an old text book while the other said the old text book was crap, and one reverted to old worksheets developed under previous curriculum while the other had worksheets that stated the learning objectives being taught.  The student who received the old curriculum materials performed well on assessments developed at the school level but was ill equipped for the county tests.  Some of the concepts that were on the county tests were never taught in class or practiced as homework. [/quote]

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