I just read Teachers to Curriculum Creators: Give Us the Real World. Data from a nationwide survey of 800 math, science and technology teachers indicates that when asked “What characteristics are most important in a curriculum resource?” more than two-thirds of the teachers selected “Shows real world connections.” The least selected response (4%) was “Raises test scores.”
These findings make me wonder how well aligned legislation, standards, textbooks and resources, and curriculum are with educators’ views and classroom practice. Hmmm…What do you think?
Considering that education is a huge industry, I’m referring to financially, I do not think that legislation and textbooks are aligned well at all with educator’s views. I have seen few textbooks that seem to be written with the student in mind. The one that does come to mind is an Economics book written by Greg Mankiw who uses it to teach to his college freshman. It’s nice to achieve the level when you can write your own standards and resources.
Seems to me that legislators and textbook/resource companies are often worried about each other and not so much on the students.
Enjoy,
Kyle