Funny, I watched this week's This is Us last night and noticed Randall's daughter was studying and doing homework out of a book. Was jealous!!

I'm a teacher and I like syllabi and text books. A text book is not a curriculum though. It may be a good reference and "backbone" to a course, but most teachers would amp it up and also bring in other materials. For reading and writing, it's tricky as whole texts are more popular than when we were growing up (ie novel study, web based reading and visual materials, articles etc) - and then using these as mentors for writing projects, but you certainly could have a text book + workbook for some language arts skill areas such as grammar. There are also old school literacy/language arts textbooks still being published with excerpts to read, writing assignments, grammar, vocabulary etc all in one. You just don't see them used much. In math, science, social studies, foreign language - most certainly .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone (an educator) please tell me why schools have decided not to use textbooks anymore?? (With the exception of math, sometimes). IT just drives me bananas come exam time, and my poor kid is shuffling through various packets and notes on random papers, and . . . . it is hard for me to help her with a study strategy when old school methods (you know, review the source material/textbook) are out the window. Makes it so much harder to get a handle on the universe of material you need to master. BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER - I'm looking at you, Basis - where there is just a ton of material/concepts covered and no "mother" source to review/turn to for answers.

UGGHHHHH!!

I'm a Basis parent, I'll back you on that! I wish they had books!

It's EVERYWHERE. And it's awful.

No it's not. Most private schools use textbooks. Big, heavy ones. It's great!

Agree. The private schools use text books. My kids are two different DC private high schools. [b]They have textbooks for every subject. We are given the book list each summer and it costs about $300-500/year just like in college. We all buy used whenever possible to save money.

[/b]

I am SOOO JELLY! Even the paying hundreds of dollars part. I wish, I wish, I wish. It just seems like this new "method" is doing such a disservice to the kids and it is preventing them from getting a better grasp on the material; understanding the big picture and how the pieces all fit together; being able to easily go back and review different parts of the course. Sigh.

Our middle schooler at private has a few workbooks, but no text books.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone (an educator) please tell me why schools have decided not to use textbooks anymore?? (With the exception of math, sometimes). IT just drives me bananas come exam time, and my poor kid is shuffling through various packets and notes on random papers, and . . . . it is hard for me to help her with a study strategy when old school methods (you know, review the source material/textbook) are out the window. Makes it so much harder to get a handle on the universe of material you need to master. BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER - I'm looking at you, Basis - where there is just a ton of material/concepts covered and no "mother" source to review/turn to for answers.

UGGHHHHH!!

I'm a Basis parent, I'll back you on that! I wish they had books!

It's EVERYWHERE. And it's awful.

No it's not. Most private schools use textbooks. Big, heavy ones. It's great!

Agree. The private schools use text books. My kids are two different DC private high schools. [b]They have textbooks for every subject. We are given the book list each summer and it costs about $300-500/year just like in college. We all buy used whenever possible to save money.

[/b]

I am SOOO JELLY! Even the paying hundreds of dollars part. I wish, I wish, I wish. It just seems like this new "method" is doing such a disservice to the kids and it is preventing them from getting a better grasp on the material; understanding the big picture and how the pieces all fit together; being able to easily go back and review different parts of the course. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone (an educator) please tell me why schools have decided not to use textbooks anymore?? (With the exception of math, sometimes). IT just drives me bananas come exam time, and my poor kid is shuffling through various packets and notes on random papers, and . . . . it is hard for me to help her with a study strategy when old school methods (you know, review the source material/textbook) are out the window. Makes it so much harder to get a handle on the universe of material you need to master. BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER - I'm looking at you, Basis - where there is just a ton of material/concepts covered and no "mother" source to review/turn to for answers.

UGGHHHHH!!

I'm a Basis parent, I'll back you on that! I wish they had books!

It's EVERYWHERE. And it's awful.

No it's not. Most private schools use textbooks. Big, heavy ones. It's great!

Agree. The private schools use text books. My kids are two different DC private high schools. They have textbooks for every subject. We are given the book list each summer and it costs about $300-500/year just like in college. We all buy used whenever possible to save money.

Interesting. I think if schools are doing away with textbooks, they need to be more organized with their curriculum resources so students and parents can follow along and work on stuff at home.

For example, I had some college classes that were taught w/out a text book, but the prof has very detailed lecture notes available and organized, and a clear syllabus for the entire semester.

This organization and ability to download your own matedrials is particularly important for times when students are out sick.

I am a DCPS teacher. We want text books. Each summer dc shells out tons of money for ‘curriculum developers’ to create word documents- that no one cares to use/print.

We are surrounded by districts that have higher student achievement… and use text books.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone (an educator) please tell me why schools have decided not to use textbooks anymore?? (With the exception of math, sometimes). IT just drives me bananas come exam time, and my poor kid is shuffling through various packets and notes on random papers, and . . . . it is hard for me to help her with a study strategy when old school methods (you know, review the source material/textbook) are out the window. Makes it so much harder to get a handle on the universe of material you need to master. BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER - I'm looking at you, Basis - where there is just a ton of material/concepts covered and no "mother" source to review/turn to for answers.

UGGHHHHH!!

I'm a Basis parent, I'll back you on that! I wish they had books!

It's EVERYWHERE. And it's awful.

No it's not. Most private schools use textbooks. Big, heavy ones. It's great!

Agree. The private schools use text books. My kids are two different DC private high schools. They have textbooks for every subject. We are given the book list each summer and it costs about $300-500/year just like in college. We all buy used whenever possible to save money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone (an educator) please tell me why schools have decided not to use textbooks anymore?? (With the exception of math, sometimes). IT just drives me bananas come exam time, and my poor kid is shuffling through various packets and notes on random papers, and . . . . it is hard for me to help her with a study strategy when old school methods (you know, review the source material/textbook) are out the window. Makes it so much harder to get a handle on the universe of material you need to master. BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER - I'm looking at you, Basis - where there is just a ton of material/concepts covered and no "mother" source to review/turn to for answers.

UGGHHHHH!!

I'm a Basis parent, I'll back you on that! I wish they had books!

It's EVERYWHERE. And it's awful.

No it's not. Most private schools use textbooks. Big, heavy ones. It's great!

I think in Dcps they were embarrassed that they couldn’t get textbooks into kids’ hands until mid-October. The post used to publish the date of all textbook dispersal. So the “fix” was to just not have them…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone (an educator) please tell me why schools have decided not to use textbooks anymore?? (With the exception of math, sometimes). IT just drives me bananas come exam time, and my poor kid is shuffling through various packets and notes on random papers, and . . . . it is hard for me to help her with a study strategy when old school methods (you know, review the source material/textbook) are out the window. Makes it so much harder to get a handle on the universe of material you need to master. BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER - I'm looking at you, Basis - where there is just a ton of material/concepts covered and no "mother" source to review/turn to for answers.

UGGHHHHH!!

I'm a Basis parent, I'll back you on that! I wish they had books!

It's EVERYWHERE. And it's awful.

+100. I loved my massive English lit books in high school, college, and still remember them with fondness. You know, the ones with the tissue paper pages.

The Norton Anthology of XXX literature!

My god, it was like 8 pt font.

Yes! This post has given me joy.

For DCPS, it’s because at least for elementary reading they wrote their own curriculum. It’s awful. Somehow DCPS thinks their staff are better than professional curriculum writers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone (an educator) please tell me why schools have decided not to use textbooks anymore?? (With the exception of math, sometimes). IT just drives me bananas come exam time, and my poor kid is shuffling through various packets and notes on random papers, and . . . . it is hard for me to help her with a study strategy when old school methods (you know, review the source material/textbook) are out the window. Makes it so much harder to get a handle on the universe of material you need to master. BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER - I'm looking at you, Basis - where there is just a ton of material/concepts covered and no "mother" source to review/turn to for answers.

UGGHHHHH!!

I'm a Basis parent, I'll back you on that! I wish they had books!

It's EVERYWHERE. And it's awful.

+100. I loved my massive English lit books in high school, college, and still remember them with fondness. You know, the ones with the tissue paper pages.

The Norton Anthology of XXX literature!

My god, it was like 8 pt font.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone (an educator) please tell me why schools have decided not to use textbooks anymore?? (With the exception of math, sometimes). IT just drives me bananas come exam time, and my poor kid is shuffling through various packets and notes on random papers, and . . . . it is hard for me to help her with a study strategy when old school methods (you know, review the source material/textbook) are out the window. Makes it so much harder to get a handle on the universe of material you need to master. BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER - I'm looking at you, Basis - where there is just a ton of material/concepts covered and no "mother" source to review/turn to for answers.

UGGHHHHH!!

I'm a Basis parent, I'll back you on that! I wish they had books!

It's EVERYWHERE. And it's awful.

+100. I loved my massive English lit books in high school, college, and still remember them with fondness. You know, the ones with the tissue paper pages.

Agree, OP. My kids are in high school and this Is the bane of my existence. I think both their math and foreign language skills are substantially lower. Both tutors and I struggled to make sense of what they were supposed to be doing.

Glad we homeschool.