What gets in the way of curriculum adoption?

Educators discuss recent trends in mandated curricula, with some citing flawed programs as barriers to adoption.

  • “Can’t blame teachers for being anti-curriculum when it doesn’t come with actual books or evidence of results … that doesn’t pass their sniff test. Rubrics, Blueprints, Roadmaps, Frameworks, or “green ratings” won’t change that.” — Leader in California
    • “Don’t forget about the apps. 😔” — Educator in Pennsylvania
    • “The better ones come with what’s needed. But for teachers to buy in, the whole district has to align – coaching, support, ongoing training, reflection on data, etc.” — Leader in South Carolina
    • “An awful lot of curriculums seem to be designed to fill all 7 hours of the school day, which makes it overwhelming to decide what to include & what not. And that’s just 1 curriculum. In elementary, you have to do this for math, reading, spelling, grammar, science and social studies.” — Educator in California 
  • “Two things can be true: Too many teachers dismiss the need for core curriculum and/or do their own thing, usually based on misguided ideas about quality instruction. And giving teachers a mediocre or bad curriculum is also a problem. … When we give teachers weak programs, such as ELA curricula with no books, can we blame teachers for thinking they are better professionals for their improvements on it? … If we want teachers to embrace the kind of curriculum reform we witnessed in Louisiana, Tennessee and Baltimore, we can’t give them bloated, passage popcorn programs like Wonders and expect them to cheer …” — Leader in New York
  • “Skilled teachers are being forced to teach from a box written by people who do not know the kids in front of that teacher & more than likely written by people who do not look like those kids nor understand their talents.” — Gifted Resource Teacher in Virginia 
  • “Many districts enforce off-the-shelf computer-based curriculum that they  bought in order to ‘teacher-proof’ their test scores. These create a deadly combination of common usage and predictability, which is a perfect storm for AI use – every prompt & source has already been seen and answered. We are on the cusp of the “Dead Classroom,” where teachers use AI to create curriculum, develop assignments and assign them to students, who then use AI to complete them, after which teachers use AI to assess them. No amount of ‘training’ will fix this once it takes hold.” — High School Teacher in California