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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]1. A good text / curriculum needs to provide plentiful practice with repetition spaced out in time so students can build long-term memory and proficiency.

2. A text with good explanation and examples is a very [b]important tool for those students who are able to find help at home[/b]. The direct effect is a [b]productivity boost for the teacher[/b] because any learning support the student gets at home [b]frees up teacher time to help the other students with one-on-one feedback[/b]. The absence of a text or a poor text acts as a drag on teacher productivity while a good text acts to reduce teacher workload.

3. A good text / curriculum makes it [b]easier for all teachers by reducing prep time[/b]. This is especially [b]helpful to the less motivated teachers in the workforce because they are generally less organized[/b]. Data shows there is as much [b]variation[/b] in education quality from classroom to classroom as there is from school to school. (I have seen the differences in teacher motivation first hand during my years of being a math teacher volunteer in classrooms) S[b]tudents in a class with a weakly motivated teacher and a weak text / curriculum are at a big disadvantage[/b]. More of these students will be behind at the end of the school year.

4. [b]A weak (or new) teacher will not know what parts of a weak text need to be skipped or backfilled[/b]. Even though the math standards specify the curriculum content, many weak or new teachers will tend to teach directly from the text. This does not make them bad teachers, rather it simply reflects the variation in knowledge and skill in any large workforce, be it teachers or a high tech company. We can [b]never expect to have the “perfect” workforce.
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5. A good text / curriculum[b] helps the new / weak teachers[/b] because of (1) the reduced prep time, (2) it lets them become productive more quickly, and (3) they can use the text to refresh their own math skills.

6. A more expert math teacher will discard the poor pieces of curriculum materials but when a teacher needs to replace a section of content in a poor text then the student that is out sick or the struggling student can’t find the material covered in class when he or she is looking back to the text for clarification or review. This penalizes the weaker students who utilize the text to help fill in comprehension gaps occurring during class time. It also penalizes students who are sick, or on vacation, or who get pulled out during math class for other reasons. So while the more able math teacher can omit the weak pieces of a text/curriculum it is not a cost free action.

7. A curriculum and supporting text that makes math learning more effective and efficient has three benefits: (1) it increases student confidence and success with Math, (2) it increases a teacher’s feeling of accomplishment and job satisfaction which may reduce turnover, and (3) better student learning makes parents happier which makes teachers happier at parent-teacher conferences.

8. [b]More efficient classroom learning means more material can be covered[/b] in the school year with better long-term memory retention and/or reduces the need to increase math periods by stealing time from art, music, etc. The increased rigor of the revised math standards also argues for increased classroom efficiency.

9. It is far more practical to add extra sections of supplemental material to a well organized text in order to match the math standards than it will be to compensate for poor structure, inadequate examples or insufficient practice problems in a poorly organized text. .... The most effective teachers can identify the weaknesses of a curriculum / text. For example, some will eliminate large chunks of the TERC curriculum and replace it with materials from other sources. This is labor intensive and unfortunately the need to do so further increases the quality variation from classroom to classroom. Teachers need a high quality baseline curriculum that is well structured, has examples, and plenty of practice problems for the students. [b]Teachers can then supplement with fun math activities (there are lots of them) as time permits[/b]. ..

By David Orbis 8/09  (edited)

[/quote]

Interesting points. But really, a good textbook is one that studies show teach kids math better than other textbooks. Like Singapore Math.[/quote]

ITA[/quote]

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