School Reformers and Crack Dealers

School Reformers and Crack Dealers What do school reformers and crack dealers have in common? They both follow the principle "Never get high on your own supply." Crack dealers don't smoke their own product, and school reformers never send their own children to the schools their policies create for the children of the poor! Taken from "With a Brooklyn Accent" Blog. Thanks

Curriculum Review Board-

I have been going to the Curriculum Review Board meetings for the last couple of months. It was eye opening. The schools have had CHOL kits, some science lab kits that have been sitting in an empty classroom all year. They can not use them because they do not have the funds to replenish the disposables, ei. plastic cups, popsicle sticks, etc. The supplier is actually here in the schools town. I would think that the supplier would cut a deal to their own community to make it happen. And because they were no affordable, CHOL was not on the list of curriculums to review. So here we are trying to adopt a new curriculum when we can't replenish the old science kits. Last year they skipped Health, all together, in elementary. Not sure why. Since we have transferred here from NJ to NM one of my children's complaints are that science is boring. They use to do 1-2 labs a week in NJ, and they have done one lab in a month here. Teachers complained in the Curriculum review that they do not have time to do science like they use to. They use to have 45 min. Now, they have 25-30 only twice a week. That is not enough time to do a lab. So while, parents think there should be more labs in science class, teachers have other concerns, time restrictions. These time restrictions are due to pressure on the reading and writing and other subjects. All of the teachers were concerned for choosing the best curriculum. One can't help wonder if they want the one with a workbook and less labs because it is easier? Frankly, I am surprised science is put on the back burner in NM due to the Nuclear Science Museum and Intel based here. So here we are with the final choices, two text book suppliers and two supplemental suppliers. It all came down to : STC http://www.nsrconline.org/curriculum_resources/stc_program.html FOSS http://www.fossweb.com/ Fusion http://www.hmhschool.com and Pearson https://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/snpapp/login/login.jsp (pearson has an all online school text. You can't see much as the website because you need to log in to see anything.) I only liked the supplemental kids, but chose a text book one just because I wanted my opinion used not wasted. I chose FOSS and Pearson for the final review for the schools. I am not sure what the final outcome will be. Over all, I was glad to see schools moving to eTexts. I thing all text books should be viewable online at home for kids. I will keep you posted.  Update: Pearson won. I knew that would happen because they want a work book and enjoy busy work. Who are they?....the teachers. Can you blame them? The kids have low expectations.