Rant
If you knew something was wrong would you:
A. try to fix it
B. be criticized for mentioning that it should be fixed
C. start a website to help until it was fixed
D. all of the above
If you have ever had the chance to look at the Arizona State Standards for Science, you get the feeling that when it was decided what standards should be placed into what grade level; it must have been toward the end of summer, everyone was tired and wanted to go home, so they just placed all of the standards on seperate slips of paper, dropped the slips into a box, randomly called out a grade, and what ever slip/standard that they pulled out, that was the grade it was assigned to.
To say that we need to revise the Science standards for Arizona is an understatement. There is no continuity in when the standards are taught and some of them are of little or no educational value to the actual learning of Science as a whole. But, until this becomes apparent, or a nuisance, to someone at the state level we will be resigned to continue to teach this haphazard hodgepodge known as the Arizona State Standards for Science.
I Was Really Told This
When we first switched to the new Arizona State Standards for Science, I tried to do a few things about it.
I spoke up saying that the standards were poorly placed for each grade level and that the eighth grade standards were especially disjointed. I was told that the eighth grade ones were selected to match the AIMS test. If that is true, then we are not really trying to teach Science to the students of Arizona, now are we.
I called to the Arizona State Department of Education and explained my feelings to them. The person I spoke with was very nice and understanding. The conversation ended with us both acknowledging that it will be like this for a few years and when the state gets back to it, the standards will change again.
In the mean time, school districts are struggling to purchase books and materials for their Science classes, because no publishing company will make a single text to cover such a mess. The school districts are then forced to make such choices as ordering several texts, from one or more publishers, that cover most of the standards, share texts between grades as differnt standards are being taught through the year, and buy Science kits from different companies, such as FOSS, to try and help supplement what they have. I wonder, does this cost more than if the district could just purchase a single package from a single company?
If anyone reading this knows someone who has the power to make change happen, please... you know.
