I hope these help you...

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I hope these help you...
By NJ Teacher

Textbook Selection
a. The principals or curriculum supervisors contact the publishers of the companies that publish materials in the area we would be interested in. Many of the original companies have combined now, so
there are fewer to contact. These companies then do presentations for the teachers on the committee to select new materials, along with the adminstrators/supervisors. They usually leave samples of the different grade levels, printed materials describing their products, and usually include some freebies, which is nice.

b.Our district is interested in how well a series will prepare

a student for state testing. When we adopted our last math book, the teachers were happy with the old series, but the new one had sections specifically designed for the state of NJ and its standards. We are also interested in how well all types of learners are addressed, and what supplemental materials it will provide to add to instruction and meet these levels.

c. I wish districts would empower their teachers more and be willing to use more trade book based instruction. Our district also is fairly conservative, and will tend to buy a package rather than look for parts that might integrate well with each other. They also need to realize that with an area such as science, monies must be allowed following the adoption to update laboratory materials. What comes in the kit the first time won't be renewable each year unless it's funded.

Final Decisons
a. The curriculum supervisor in that content area or the adminstrators make the final decisions. Often, we feel that the adoption of a textbook or curriculum is a waste of time, because we get very little say in the final analysis. Also, we are paid very poorly for writing curriculum, and the job often falls to inexperienced teachers, which is probably not the best thing.

b. If it is a major area with new curriculum materials, like when we switched to a different reading series, the company often provides training through after school meetings of in-service opportunities. Otherwise, we just get the printed curriculum. With our new social studies, we met with the supervisor a few times, but basically, we shared with each other on our own.

c. The challenges are buying into decisions you might not agree with and having to live with them due to the expense of the adoption and/or the state mandates. With our social studies, we were expected to teach countries we had never done before with virtually no materials to do so. Every curricular area is vying for more and more time in the school day, but with testing concerns, math and reading definitely need to get the heart of the teaching day. The successes are having new materials to use (sometimes the old ones are outdated) and trying new things. It also is interesting to work across schools with people on these committees and see what their philosophies are as you try to reach a consensus.

I hope this helps you!:s)