Kimberly Worthy, 2009 DC Teacher of the Year and Chair for Curriculum Development at Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science; Larry Lezotte, Ph.D., Consultant for Effective Schools Products, Ltd.; and Margery Mayer, President, Scholastic Education for Scholastic Inc., spoke about Learning in the World of Free at the 2009 AEP Summit. The panel presentation, moderated by author and consultant Suzanne Barchers, Ed.D., discussed the needs of today’s teachers and the valuable role that authoritative, vetted content plays in providing all students with access to a high-quality education.
In part 2 of a report on this session, Larry Lezotte looks at the current state of the classroom and its relationship to publishers.
Public education is approaching a perfect storm. Teachers are being asked to raise test scores and to reach out to the most difficult students but with fewer resources, exposing the limitations of the current education system. This system, never intended to teach and help all students, is not necessarily performing worse than before–it’s just not adequate to fill the learning-for-all mission.
For publishers, change is occurring at the most basic level. While the primary client was the teacher, today it is the student. And whereas much of the focus has been on effective teaching, now it is on effective and efficient student learning. Students are asking for the learning tools they want–and they want to be able to change the products to suit their needs.
That is why teachers are looking to the Internet for free resources–they gain immediate access to many tools that are more in touch with their students’ needs. However, teachers have too much work to do and too little time to truly organize the free resources into a credible curriculum. Teachers do see the value of organized, value-added products–especially leveled-resources that can accommodate the various learning abilities.
Publishers need to work with schools to show them that the publisher can be the architect of the curriculum, allowing the teacher to be the carpenter, taking the blue prints and adapting them to their individual learners. Publishers may need to let go of the idea that they are creating one, finished product and allow for every school and teacher to customize the materials to suit their needs.
- View Larry Lezotte’s presentation.
- Listen to Learning in the World of Free
- Read Learning in the World of Free, Part 1
More blog posts from the AEP Summit.
U have said everything!! a credible curriculum that finally convince parents to the learning quality for what their children will learn, otherwise its exactly what homeschooling most worry about, you can’t teach a hard and complicated customized textbook as easier for parents better for homeschooling.