Anonymous wrote:DCPS has more than enough money for the the best, most suitable textbooks available - and I'm more than certain that there definitely is content out there that is more than adequate to meet Common Core.

As a taxpayer, I'm feeling ripped off. Why isn't anyone anywhere in the system confronting our public officials and demanding change? Why isn't WTU speaking out on this?

Have you reached out to Mendelson or Cheh?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS has more than enough money for the the best, most suitable textbooks available - and I'm more than certain that there definitely is content out there that is more than adequate to meet Common Core.

As a taxpayer, I'm feeling ripped off. Why isn't anyone anywhere in the system confronting our public officials and demanding change? Why isn't WTU speaking out on this?

Actually, there are no textbooks that have been approved for Common Core math.

Not approved by whom? DC? There are plenty of textbooks out there which are aligned to Common Core, and many have been approved by various jurisdictions - and additionally, there is also a lot of content developed by educators aligned to Common Core which is even posted online for free. What makes DC think it's so special that it's still pondering, researching, deliberating and navelgazing over textbooks and approvals? Or, perhaps more appropriately the question should be, what makes DC so dysfunctional - given they have in the past approved lousy textbooks like Everyday Math? Clearly whoever is responsible for the process and for approving textbooks in DC doesn't know what they are doing, IMHO.

Grade 5 teacher:

I'm not a huge fan of textbooks.

I don't use the adopted Reading anthology/workbooks. We read novels in class, which I buy on Amazon.

I only use the Social Studies and Science books as "reference books" or additional sources to compare with the handouts I provide, which my students can highlight and annotate. I teach them how to keep these in three-ring binders.

I do encourage my students to keep the EM Reference book on their desk during math, but it's quite limited, doesn't provide the needed content to address many of the questions my students have.

Not having a decent math textbook to use as a resource is a huge problem, especially for new teachers who haven't amassed a large library of math materials over the years. A lot of the workbooks that my colleagues use are junk. They don't provide enough space for students to show their solutions.

Anonymous wrote:What is WTU doing to hold the administration accountable over the inadequate supply of textbooks, along with selection of lousy textbooks like Everyday Math? Not much, it seems.

WTU is not really engaged in content/curriculum issues at all.

Anonymous wrote:Well. At Deal they will basically tell your kid a set of open ended questions about an era in history and then your child to "just go find the answers on the internet". It's pretty ridiculous. I don't know how or why anyone is tolerating any of this. Get a textbook for the students. Parents would be willing to pay for it at Deal. It is an outrage that they don't use them for history or math. In english, they won't even let them take the novel home for review.

LOL. Imagine. At Deal!

Anonymous wrote:DCPS has more than enough money for the the best, most suitable textbooks available - and I'm more than certain that there definitely is content out there that is more than adequate to meet Common Core.

As a taxpayer, I'm feeling ripped off. Why isn't anyone anywhere in the system confronting our public officials and demanding change? Why isn't WTU speaking out on this?

Actually, there are no textbooks that have been approved for Common Core math.

Anonymous wrote:Before we all start lining up in front of schools holding signs to demand new textbooks, the textbook really isn't the solution. The fact is that the Common Core standards are so rigorous and new that an old-school "textbook as source of knowledge" is no longer the right answer.

http://blog.keycurriculum.com/2011/04/common-core-aligned-nice-new-cover/

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/11/citing_lack_of_common-core_ali.html

The PARCC is what the DCPS students will take (instead of DC-CAS) starting 2014-2015.

Which begs the question, why the heck is DCPS attempting to implement Common Core Math Standards all at once, without phasing it in, a year at a time?
Why is DCPS doling out units, one at a time, during the school year?
This is the recipe for testing failure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What it comes down to, regardless of who is to blame or what the causes are, is that there are teachers out there working with no math resources, no phonics resources, no spelling resources, no vocabulary resources, no social studies resources, no STEM resources. These teachers are compiling and creating things as they go, and it's a completely inefficient and a poor use of time. Especially with the number of teachers in their first 5 years in the District, it just isn't a good idea. If we want learning to improve, we need to get more serious about providing quality resources for teachers to use.

Agree.

The sick thing is that the money was already spent on those resources, and most of them didn't make it to the students, and what did make it to the students sucks (i.e. Everyday Math).

Anonymous wrote:What it comes down to, regardless of who is to blame or what the causes are, is that there are teachers out there working with no math resources, no phonics resources, no spelling resources, no vocabulary resources, no social studies resources, no STEM resources. These teachers are compiling and creating things as they go, and it's a completely inefficient and a poor use of time. Especially with the number of teachers in their first 5 years in the District, it just isn't a good idea. If we want learning to improve, we need to get more serious about providing quality resources for teachers to use.

Agree.

DCPS has more than enough money for the the best, most suitable textbooks available - and I'm more than certain that there definitely is content out there that is more than adequate to meet Common Core.

As a taxpayer, I'm feeling ripped off. Why isn't anyone anywhere in the system confronting our public officials and demanding change? Why isn't WTU speaking out on this?

What it comes down to, regardless of who is to blame or what the causes are, is that there are teachers out there working with no math resources, no phonics resources, no spelling resources, no vocabulary resources, no social studies resources, no STEM resources. These teachers are compiling and creating things as they go, and it's a completely inefficient and a poor use of time. Especially with the number of teachers in their first 5 years in the District, it just isn't a good idea. If we want learning to improve, we need to get more serious about providing quality resources for teachers to use.

Before we all start lining up in front of schools holding signs to demand new textbooks, the textbook really isn't the solution. The fact is that the Common Core standards are so rigorous and new that an old-school "textbook as source of knowledge" is no longer the right answer.

http://blog.keycurriculum.com/2011/04/common-core-aligned-nice-new-cover/

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/11/citing_lack_of_common-core_ali.html

The PARCC is what the DCPS students will take (instead of DC-CAS) starting 2014-2015.

Anonymous wrote:Very few public schools in this area seem to have textbooks. It's not just a DC issue.

Very few public school systems in this area are even close to being 40% proficient.

Very few public schools in this area seem to have textbooks. It's not just a DC issue.

Textbooks may be a racket, but the problems DCPS faces with them has nothing to do with evil senators and everything to do with the cluelessness of the central office.

Accountability. Kaya wants from teachers. She needs to be accountable herself.