Stacks of curriculum specialists. But what do they do?
Those of you who weren’t immersed in the slap-happy blog – I remain stunned at the hundreds of comments that topic drew and the level of emotion — posted some thoughtful comments on my prior entry on the Duncan reform plan and its impact on rural districts.
One of the concerns that’s been expressed elsewhere is whether rural schools will have a hard time raising the bar since they don’t have deep expertise in their central offices to provide guidance. Several of you hooted at that sentiment, saying that you didn’t see those specialists making any difference in your areas.
Among the comments:
— “We have a stack of curriculum specialists in our central office, and one in each school. I have yet to find anyone who can tell me what they do. We certainly don’t see them in the classrooms.” From ScienceTeacher671
— “Gwinnett County isn’t the only place that is top heavy with mysterious central office bureaucracy. Bibb County schools continue to create positions for Assistant Superintendents, Curriculum ’specialists’ and we’ll-find-a-name-for-the-position-later. The result in the schools? – continued failing of students.” From Trying to Educate in Macon.
Many local systems have added titles over the years and I, too, remain befuddled as to what all these new hires do every day. Some teachers tell me what these administrators do is hold long, unproductive workshops.
Are these positions necessary? I have attended legislative hearings where lawmakers lament how many high-level school system employees don’t work in the classrooms. Given our precarious finances, should these staffers be the first to go or are they doing valuable behind-the-scenes work?
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65 comments Add your comment
what's right for kids???
September 3rd, 2009
10:38 am
In some counties, the curriculum specialists have a “work from home day”. In Fulton, they did not take any cut in contract, and took only five furlough days, while assistant principals took a 20 cut in contract days. Right up there with graduation coaches, these people do very little if anything except post things on facebook.
old teach
September 3rd, 2009
10:49 am
“Given our precarious finances, should these staffers be the first to go or are they doing valuable behind-the-scenes work?”
Definitely choice A !!!!
Big bucks are spent on these and other so-called “consultants” . If forced to keep a daily work diary in which to record how they contribute to the student’s achievement or well being, I’ll wager much space would be devoted to sitting in worthless meetings and preparing worthless handouts for inservices for teachers.
Dollars to doughnuts most of them do not now nor have in the recent past managed a classroom, effectively taught a class, or been held accountable for anything. Many who are promoted to these positions have very limited classroom experience.
The best place for any school system to begin budget cuts: positions in which there is little or no contact with students.
Maureen's accountability metric
September 3rd, 2009
11:09 am
As the first poster yesterday to reference the article’s take on “the luxury of big central office staffs” I notice my comments on the matter are conspicuous by their absence.
Be that as it may, at least the subject is being addressed, and since it is being addressed, it’s as good a time as any to ask if Dr. Lewis has responded to Maureen’s queries concerning, among other things, why DeKalb County has 100 million dollars more in administrative salaries than does Fulton?
It’s not just that these positions provide an extremely poor return on their investment. It’s much worse than that, in that people in these positions often feel compelled to generate paperwork for the classroom teacher to complete, so that they can have “data” to justify their existence. A prime example would be the pre-assessments that serve no other purpose than to justify the bureaucrat’s existence, and waste valuable instructional time, as the classroom teacher has already done their own pre-assessments.
jim d
September 3rd, 2009
11:17 am
“Are these positions necessary?”
Perhaps we should be asking if they are actually PRODUCTIVE?
School improvement specialists in Gwinnett most often come from retiring administrators that have found a method of double dipping and who have no idea as to how to improve our schools (or they would have while in a position to do so)
Dr. John Trotter
September 3rd, 2009
11:19 am
Maureen: Classroom educators are the only real educators in the school system because they are the only people who actually interact with students each day. The rest of the folk are just what I call “educrats.” The educrats have cushy jobs which enable them to live a “life of Reilly,” whether located in the school building or in some central office-type building. These are the jobs for which people aspire, especially the ones located outside the school buildings. (The high school principalship, if performed correctly, is actually the toughest job in public schooling. Note that I said “if performed correctly.”)
These educrats like to snoopervise teachers and make their lives miserable. I actually think that the educrats also have some warped notion that this is what administrators/supervisors are supposed to do. So-called leadership by intimidation rather than inspiration, I presume. This type of unleadership has been discounted in the businessworld for years. It just does not work. As an administrator, I could always get the teachers to go the extra mile (without even asking them) because they appreciated the fact that I supported them, valued them, respected them, esteemed them (get the picture?). There is no respectable psychologist in the past or current who advocates scaring the heck out of the professionals under your supervision and causing them undue stress in order to obtain more effective job performance from them. If we want self-actualizing professionals to work with our sensitive and fragile children, then being a harsh task-master toward the teachers will only cause them to focus on their own needs (ala Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Kurt Lewin, et al.). A satisfied need no longer motivates a person. For the teacher to be a self-actualizing individual, then the teacher’s lower needs (physical, safety, esteem, security, social, etc.) must first be satisfied. This is just basic theory.
These educrats, as fellow bloggers have so ably pointed out, do not tend to be too hip to academe (and certainly are not scholars in the true sense), are oblivious to good theory on how to treat fellow humans. They tend to operate on bad theory, not even realizing that there are any theories of behavior involved. They work on the intimidation model of bad conduct. Perhaps because they are so insecure about their own jobs amounting to essentially nothing but (A) inane paperwork being foisted on the teachers and (B) insane evaluations being manipulated in a way that scares the teachers even more, these educrats are bent on treating the real educators (the ones in the classroom) like their are pariahs instead of “saviors” for the children. These insipid educrats and “insultants” (a name which my father used to call central office consultant when he was a principal) see the teachers as the enemies rather than comrades committed to educating children. Their behavior, I believe, is deeply rooted in insecurity and ignorance. I presume by now, Maureen, that you can tell that I don’t suffer educational fools very well, especially when they are “mean as cat s–t and twice as nasty,” to quote my grandfather.
Yes, these educrats should be the first to be jettisoned, as I clearly pointed out to Governor Perdue when I wrote to him in July about the furloughs. A 25% to 35% cut in the educrats in Georgia would be a good start. It would not hurt education one bit; in fact, it will actually help the school environments which will, hopefully, improve student achivement. You cannot have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions, and these educrats simply screw up good teaching conditions. (c) MACE, September 3, 2009.
Maureen's accountability metric
September 3rd, 2009
11:33 am
I have to wonder, after reading Dr. Trotter’s comments on the matter, what the other professional organizations said about the possibility of cutting the educational bureaucracy, now that we have reached the point that we are actually furloughing teachers?
And Maureen, what has Dr. Lewis done as far as addressing questions about DeKalb’s bureaucracy, given that there is data to indicate than DeKalb, for example, spends one hundred million dollars a year more in administrative salaries than does Fulton?
Did the professional organizations for teachers in DeKalb address making any cuts in this bureaucracy instead of settling on slashing teacher retirement benefits to meet the budget shortfall?
Rosie
September 3rd, 2009
12:02 pm
Problem: Government has created an enormous amount of paperwork. Somebody has got to take care of shuffling all of the paper. Without the paperwork, we would not need all of these adminstrative employees. I agree with the person commenting on all of the consultants (retired administrators double dipping). Who wouldn’t love one of these jobs?
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
12:34 pm
In DeKalb, we have our Asst Superintendent of curriculum with her salary of $162,648.00 – 5 directors of curriculum instruction at a cost of $438,500.00, 72 “Instructional Supervisors” at a cost of almost $6.4 million – plus 473 “Instructional Specialists” totaling $23.9 million.
That’s a grand total of nearly $31 million for 551 people in the curriculum department.
(For comparison, we have 982 food service employees at a cost of $16.8 million.)
maureen's accountability metric
September 3rd, 2009
12:42 pm
Cere, have you heard of the data that suggests DeKalb pays one hundred million dollars a year more in administrative salaries than Fulton, and if so, would you like Crawford Lewis to address it?
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
12:48 pm
Yes, M’AM! The data is available at this link at the DeKalb School Watch blog -
http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2009/02/dekalb-county-schools-system-as-mr_11.html
He won’t respond to us – in fact – the board and DCSS staff are not pleased about the blog at all.
oldtimer
September 3rd, 2009
1:56 pm
Back in the dark ages of my eary teaching career, we had specialists who would handle big chunks of curriculum ( all Social Studies, Vocational Education, and Foreign Language). This man had no secretary, and spent hours just getting books and handling textbook adoption. He stayed out of our business. Now in Clayton County there are 2 people just for Social Studies and they each have a secretary, and books are harder to get!
tdjones
September 3rd, 2009
2:21 pm
I quit reading Dr. Trotter’s post after his ridiculous first sentence. I would never argue that all positions that are somehow lumped into “curriculum specialists” are indeed necessary. However, there are many who are indeed necessary and do make differences. I know there are many teachers here who complain about those people as useless, but there are many teachers I know who work closely with those curriculum specialists to help them improve their teaching. Many curriculum specialists actually do go into classrooms and work with classroom teachers, sometimes teaching demonstration lessons, sometime co-planning a unit, etc.
old teach
September 3rd, 2009
2:29 pm
So,ROSIE….true about the paperwork…..but does that shuffling require advanced degrees and 6 figure salaries???? NOPE!!!!
MAUREEN….you stay on ol’ Crawford’s radar to get answers to those questions from M’am. We’re all waiting to see if you can corner him and get explanations…..MAYBE you should address the questions to the school board and request job descriptions, salaries, and daily loggings from all those superfluous people.
old teach
September 3rd, 2009
2:30 pm
OOps….last post swallowed up……Send a search party, Maureen.
old teach
September 3rd, 2009
2:31 pm
Wonder what triggers that POSTEATER.
Teacher, Too
September 3rd, 2009
2:39 pm
We have three “coaches” at my school: math, graduation, and technology. No one knows what they do– it’s a mystery among the teachers.
When standardized testing occurs, we’ve asked why the “coaches” can’t cover teachers who are absent. UMMM– no answer is ever given. They always have “other” responsibilities. Okay, which is more important– the students or “other” responsibilities (which might include going out to lunch every day, socializing with other clique members, working on advanced degrees). I say this with a slight tongue-in-cheek attitude, but make no mistake, all those responsibilities mentioned happen on a pretty regular basis. It’s definitely causing resentment and unease among the heavily burdened teachers who don’t get to go to out to lunch and who complete their own advanced degree classwork at home instead of at school.
Every decision should be made with the thought, “What is best for the students.” ALL certified personnel should be accountable to that standard, not just the classroom teachers.
It seems like oftentimes the best interests of the children are subordinate to interests of the admins/academic coaches.
Stacks of curriculum specialists. But what do they do? | Get Schooled | Curriculum up date today
September 3rd, 2009
3:21 pm
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Dr. John Trotter
September 3rd, 2009
3:37 pm
Hey T D, next time I’ll try to use mono-syllabic words so that you can get past the first sentence. LOL. I just try to keep it real…by telling the truth, a phenomenon which appears to be a rarity these days among the educrats like you who apparently want desperately to protect your turfs. T D, I don’t recall saying that all positions relating to curriculum are a total waste. I simply stated that to be a true educator, you need to be educating someone. How can you be a practicing educator if you are not educating anyone? You are just pushing paper and snoopervising…being a typical educrat. But, T D, thanks for getting through the first sentence, despite the enormous distaste and struggle that you had to endure. I will grant you, T D, that a few (like it was in the old days) curriculum folk are probably needed to set curriculum guidelines (we actually had “curriculum guides” in the day), but not the 500+ for some school systems, as pointed out by Sister Cere in a previous blog. This is what is “ridiculous,” not my robust response to such non-sense.
JJ
September 3rd, 2009
3:47 pm
Open the web page for virtually any school and take a look at the positions listed. On average 1/3 or less are teachers of the core subjects, the rest are admin., councilers, gym, music, police, etc…
Imagine if we had a mandate stating 50% or more of all school staff must teach at least 3 classes.
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
4:16 pm
In case you haven’t seen this, Dr. Trotter, the Schools Matter blog has now coined a word for the folks who stand to profit from converting public schools to charters — “edupreneurs” — I thought you’d like to know about this – seeing as how you are such a wordmonger and all!
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
4:19 pm
My son had a high football coach who taught an elective at a highly respected GA high school — all year — and never once spoke to the class. He wrote assignments on the board and expected them to do their work out of the book, silently while he messed around on his computer – every day. The class, you ask? Entrepreneurship!
What a bloody waste.
tdjones
September 3rd, 2009
4:25 pm
Dr. Trotter,
Your ignorance continues to amazes me – what is your doctorate in anyway? Are you an educator – as you define it?
I guess you are in business of making up fancy new words and somehow giving the impression of “understanding” to your listeners/readers – of course, I’m sure that “educrat” isn’t your invention.
My curriculum specialists are educators even with your definition – they educate teachers, who, in turn, can help their students learn more effectively. I agree with you that not all people who have the title are actually doing what they are supposed to be doing. Sometimes because they are forced to do the paperwork even though that may not be a part of their job descriptions. For those who don’t know what those specialists do, have you ever asked them directly?
By the way, I am NOT a curriculum specialist, Dr. Trotter. You just simply assumed wrong.
Elsie
September 3rd, 2009
4:26 pm
Wow, maybe I should move back to Atlanta and get one of THOSE jobs! Sounds cushy. I’m currently the curriculum specialist for a K-12 charter school in Arizona (posting on what remains of my lunchtime). For the record, I spent 9 years in the classroom before moving to an admin role (this is my 3rd admin year). I am responsible for checking lesson plans from 30+ teachers each week; researching, ordering, processing, inventorying, and distributing thousands of textbooks and instructional materials; supervising the curriculum mapping process; and I am constantly in the classroom, doing coaching and demonstrations. Did I mention that I do this with no assistance? Add in all the administrative garbage that I have (i.e., daily meetings, hours of documentation, etc.), and I’m lucky to survive the week! My office? Not in some fancy admin building- I have a converted bathroom in the school building! Also, I do this on a salary less than I would be making in the classroom in Georgia!
I’m sure there are (as in any profession) some that get by without pulling their weight- but please don’t lump all of us into that category. I am a tireless advocate for our teachers, and I make a very meaningful contribution to our school.
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
4:49 pm
tdjones — here’s a challenge. I’m sure that you think your curriculum experts are teaching your teachers. Why not poll the teachers (anonymously) and ask them if they think they’ve learned valuable information from the experts…
Maureen Downey
September 3rd, 2009
4:54 pm
I have to ask the classroom folks here to chime in a bit more: Teachers, do your system’s curriculum specialists aid you in any way? (Someone e-mailed that we should all be saying curricula, but I think the plural here is only the specialist.)
Do they help plan lessons or suggest better ways to teach a topic?
Frankly, as a parent, I have no idea what these folks do day to day, although it certainly sounds llke they are busy in Arizona.
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
5:02 pm
For kicks, I checked out how many para-pros we have (you know, those low-paid folks who actually help the teachers) — we have 786 in DeKalb – at a cost of about $18 million. That’s about 1 1/2 teacher’s assistants for each curriculum (la) expert.
catlady
September 3rd, 2009
5:49 pm
We just added two MORE “curriculum specialists”, both of whom have NEVER taught the grade level they are supervising! I was told it didn’t cost anything–it is federal money. Well, yes, it does cost because it took experienced teachers out of the classroom albeit not the grades they are the supervisors for.
We have graduation coaches, math, reading, and intermediate grades coach/supervisors, and God knows how many 49%ers who shuffle papers and schedule facilities. We are observed by SOMEONE at least 2 x a week. We are sick of it! Let us teach! Get out of the way!
We need body on body, not people to “supervise” and write up reports!
We have asked some of these coaches to come in and teach a class–show us how to do it but they are too busy with meetings, trips, etc. They are good folks whose expertise should be used in the classroom everyday.
Used to teach
September 3rd, 2009
6:20 pm
Maureen I wish you would just get down to the nitty gritty and do some investigative reporting. In Gwinnett our superintendent makes $343,000 a year and has a $4,000 travel expense! Then under him are “Area Superintendents” each cluster has one and the average $90,000 a year. Tehy sorta do his job they go around to check on things. You can find this info on the web because its public knowledge. The lady at Human resources she makes about $95,000 and her job is to simply talk you out of filing a greiveance. Now lets figure the math on running the ISC building aka the Taj Mahal. Now really do we need this large buliding and then on the other side of Gwinnett there is the school distribution center. Wonder what the cost for that building is and to employee people to run it. Now this past year we put our Science kits (all elemenatry schools) the science text books and our Scott Forseman Language arts series that is maybe 4 yrs old. We packed all this up millions of dollars worth of educational resources probably sitting in a warehouse. Gwinnett is adopting new science and language arts materials another couple million! My old principal took our counselor and her best friend with her to a new school. They both have cushey new jobs. He is an graduation coach at a Middle school in an affluent area and her BFF some kind of specials teacher! Meanwhile my friend and 4 other kindergarten teachers have 24 kindergarten students in one room. heaven forbid they hire a teacher to ease the over crowding. Oh and the best part produce the results Gwinnett county expects! Really Maureen do some research on this school system It ain’t so great. They sweep a lot under the rug they do not want to look bad. Go on their website and look at all the jobs at the BIG ISC! They are so so corrupt they are cold and without a soul. Are you afraid of them too? Just wondering.
ScienceTeacher671
September 3rd, 2009
6:28 pm
Sounds like it’s pretty much the same all over…except in tdjones’ district!
catlady
September 3rd, 2009
6:34 pm
Missing comment, although it says I have already posted it. ???
catlady
September 3rd, 2009
6:36 pm
Slow as the school system: took about 50 minutes to “instantly” post.
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
7:40 pm
Does anyone think that our public schools have become more or less a cushy “jobs program”?
(Aside from teachers, principals, librarians and cafeteria and maintenance staff – who else do we really need? Apparently, the “stimulus” money is only stimulating the bloat – not going directly into the classrooms.
food for thought
September 3rd, 2009
7:48 pm
Maureen – I can only speak for my school, not even my district (as I have heard horror stories from all over the metro region), but my MS graduation coach is WONDERFUL – she works her heinie off! She has pulled files for me for RTI – she works with the kids on projects that teachers have assigned – she mentors – she’s really great. We also have a technology literacy coach for the first time this year, and not only has she has helped me develop a lesson to do in the computer lab, she made “cheat sheets” for the kids (something I would’ve had to do myself), and came to the lab and assisted me – all I had to do was ask. I know I’ll be using her again.
It makes me sad to hear so many tales of people not doing the right thing, because the folks in these positions can really help make your life easier as well as help the kids!
Dr. John Trotter
September 3rd, 2009
7:50 pm
T D, I am glad that I “amazes” [sic.] you. No, I am not a practicing educator in the traditional sense of teaching children. I once was in the past. My degrees are a BA in History (1976, summa cum laude, Columbus State University), a MA in Social Science Education (1978, the University of Georgia; the thesis was published in The Journal of Negro Education in the Winter issue, 1981, I believe; this is a referee journal, if you understand the concept), an EdD in Educational Administration (1984, the University of Georgia; my major professor, the legendary Carvin L. Brown, pointed out that I had at least four major journal articles within the dissertation, but I was on a fast-track), and a JD in Jurisprudence (2004, the Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University). Your Curriculum Specialists “educate” teachers, do they? Is this why they seem so condescending? I guess I am from the old Johnnie Burhnam (I believe this was her name at UGA, long before my time) School of Curriculum and Supervision. Her approach was a facilitative approach, not a “snoopervisory” approach. Did I make up this word too? I don’t know. I have been using it for years — like I have been using “educrats.” (Thanks, Sister Cere, for the “edupreneur” word. This is a new one on me. We know that the public schooling process has become like the old military-industrial complex which Ike warned the American Society against. There is so much money to be made at the expense of the taxpayers in the name of education.)
If, T D, your “Curriculum Specialists” (for the record: I do not find them so “special”) were more facilitative in their approach — assisting teachers rather than demeaning them — then I would not have such a nasty view of them. But, more times than not, they are quasi administrators (little “mini me’s”) who are stepping on teachers to prove their “administrative” abilities. Curriculum is funny. Usually the ones who talk so much about curriculum don’t know squat about it. At UGA, I made the highest grade in Dr. Jerry Firth’s class in Curriculum and Suervision. One professor in the Department of Administration was taking the old TCT (which all teachers and administrators had to pass) in the early 1980s on a regular basis in order to compose a workbook about the TCT for administrative students. We compared scores on the Curriculum portion. I scored the highest. I say all of this to (1) point out the fact that I hardly ever mention curriculum because I know that it doesn’t matter what the curriculum is if the children’s conduct is out of control and to (2) refute your emotional claim that I do not know what I am talking about. My offer still stands: To openly debate you, Kathy Cox, or any principal or superintendent or professor of education in the State about what are the compelling issues in public education in Georgia. I haven’t had any takers yet. I don’t do this because I think that I am so smart. I am a man of average intelligence. Many people on these blogs are much smarter than I am. But, I know what is important when trying to effectively and efficiently run a public school in Georgia, Iowa, or New York City.
No one has ever accused me of being a chicken or just stupid. Now, crazy? Yes, I get this accusation all the time, and I proudly accept this moniker. By other people’s standards (hat in hand always and constantly kissing others’ rear-ends), I am crazy as h-ll. I love it. It is wonderful being a free man. (c) MACE, September 3, 2009.
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
8:59 pm
So glad to hear that you like your graduation coach, food. Really, though, aren’t these the kinds of duties a good para should be able to do? And, curious — a graduation coach in middle school? Didn’t realize we had those. The technology person sounds like a gem!
Dr. Craig Spinks /Augusta
September 3rd, 2009
9:06 pm
Has any disinterested, out-of-state educational auditing group(No, SACS doesn’t qualify as disinterested.) evaluated the efficacy of the hordes of highly-paid system- and state-level consultants in improving student academic achievement? And, by the way, has any such group examined what our public school systems are getting for the large legal fees they pay?
echo
September 3rd, 2009
9:10 pm
We got rid of one “science coordinator” position at the county office. I was never sure wht the “coordinator” actually coordinated; she frequently sent loads of benchmark tests (with the incorrect answers)and made us spend our “workdays” sitting around discussing the textbooks we were adopting. We had pretty much already beat the textbook horse to death; but she wanted us to dissect it, mount it and dress it up pretty. In the place of the single coordinator, we now have 3 science coaches. Not really sure what they do either.
I think the wheels are soon to come off my wagon…not too happy about so many things going on in the name of “budget cuts”. Seems the only ones really feeling the cuts are the teachers. Ask me how many copies I get for this semester (according to the administration) for 3 high school science classes.
Dr. John Trotter
September 3rd, 2009
9:14 pm
The name would be “Johnnie Burnham,” not Johnnie Burhnam. Sorry. I tried to look up the lady on Google, but she came along before the time of Google. I think that I have her name correctly now. I remember Dr. Ray Bruce of UGA (”Mr. Educator” in Georgia) talking about her and her approach to curriculum and supervision back in the day (way before my time also). Her approach just rang true and was followed for decades in Georgia. But, this whole “accountability” craze which came out of California in the early 1970s did away with the facilitative approach and re-placed it with a counterproductive intimidating approach. This approach has probably done more harm to public education than any thing else in recent years, driving out of education energetic and creative people who simply will not put up with the nonsense. This is a classic example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. A loose net approach to supervision will catch any bad teacher; a tight net only suffocates the entire faculty, quenching creative minds and spirits (some of whom are on this blog). I stole the “loose net” theory from Dr. Carvin Brown at UGA. I may have been a jackanapes as a very young doctoral student at UGA, but I learned many things from people like Dr. Carvin Brown, Dr. Eugene Boyce, Dr. Kennneth Matthews, and many others. I do know this about supervision: The “tight net” approach is killing public education. You don’t have such nonsense in private schools. They just hire good people and let them teach. If they made a mistake in hiring a teacher who turns out to be bad (for lack of a better word), then the loose net catches this teacher every time, without causing the creative minds to be beaten down and snuffed out. (c) MACE, September 3, 2009.
tdjones
September 3rd, 2009
9:20 pm
Dr. Trotter,
I am honored to be the first one to accuse you of your ignorance and stupidity. Ed.D in Educational Administration, wow that’s impressive. I am also glad that you have so many (apparently) famous people and schools that you can associate with – I just don’t know who/what they are and how they actually improved the educational experiences of students in GA.
I feel very sorry for you that you have not had much opportunity to get to know those hard working and helpful curriculum specialists (again not all of them, but there are many).
Cere, I think your idea of surveying teachers sounds good. Go ahead and try it. Of course, the results will vary. Many teachers feel that they don’t need any help from curriculum specialists or they already know what it takes to be good _____ (fill in with whatever the subject) teachers. Whether they actually are is somewhat questionable, but they would likely to respond that curriculum specialists are useless. On the other hand, there are teachers who are professional enough to recognize that they can always learn and improve their craft of teaching, and they seek out the support of those curriculum specialists. They would respond more positively. So, in the end, what does a survey tell us? I am not so sure, but I think it is an interesting idea, nevertheless.
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
9:22 pm
How many copies do you get for this semester for 3 high school science classes, echo?
ScienceTeacher671
September 3rd, 2009
9:44 pm
And even as teachers were being furloughed, our county was adding “support” positions and taking highly qualified teachers out of the classroom to fill them….
ScienceTeacher671
September 3rd, 2009
9:51 pm
How many copies, echo?
echo
September 3rd, 2009
9:54 pm
5500! And a front and back sheet counts as 2 copies!
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
9:56 pm
So – have we defined exactly what a curriculum expert does? I’m not clear.
Cere
September 3rd, 2009
9:57 pm
oh! 5500! that’s only 30 per school day – 10 per class. If you use 6 pt type, you could get 3 worksheets to a sheet – that should do!
echo
September 3rd, 2009
10:03 pm
lol. I used about 200 copies just to make my course syllabi (front and back for 90+ kids). I estimate that I will be out of copies around the end of this month – middle of October. I guess we won’t have any more tests or labs?
tdjones
September 3rd, 2009
10:12 pm
Cere,
Before defining what “curriculum specialists” do, let’s first define what you mean by “curriculum specialists.” As a couple of others have suggested, we are lumping in many different people under this label, and some people like Dr. T and you just can’t handle the idea that there is any good person with such a label. Exactly whom are you talking about?
food for thought
September 3rd, 2009
10:17 pm
Cere – Purdue put the grad coaches in a couple years ago – of course the position is no longer funded by the state. Ours was a former classroom teacher in our school – she wasn’t hired from elsewhere or shifted out of the classroom for the sake of the kids, if you know what I mean. I guess a good para could do some of what she does, but she does so much more. I mean she really works with those kids getting them up to speed on basic skills they might be missing in order to accomplish a goal – she works with the teachers to help the kids achieve – her room is generally full of kids working all hours of the day. We’re very lucky, from what I gather.
echo
September 3rd, 2009
10:20 pm
tdjones, I say none of them do squat. I can handle the idea of most things; however, you seem to be very…um…passionate, about the matter. Cutting a little too close to the bone for ya?
I have taught in private and public schools and never once used any of these “curriculum specialists” (or whatever the title may have been). Don’t know anyone who has either. Many moons ago these positions didn’t even exist and teachers seemed be able to teach just fine.
BTW, Dr. Trotter, I noticed my 1st check to MACE just cleared my account…looking forward to all the benefits of my MACE membership.
ScienceTeacher671
September 3rd, 2009
10:26 pm
echo, I can’t believe they are counting a front & back as 2 sheets. Our copies are counted as sheets of paper – so a front & back are only one sheet.