I want a pony, a pretty pony, with long hair that never gets tangled, and I don't want my pony to poop or smell weird or ever have flies, and I want it to be easy to ride, but super fun and fast and jump high and win races and, and, and

Sad fact of life #2155
The ideal and the real do not always exist in the same world.

In a perfect world children would always do their homework and chores without being asked.


In a perfect world cars would run on happy thoughts and gummy bears would rain down from heaven.

In a perfect world I could eat cupcakes for breakfast and still wear skinny jeans.

Sadly the world is not perfect, and we don't always get what we want simply because what we want doesn't always exist.

One such example of this type of illusive unicorn is "The Perfect Curriculum."   We all want a curriculum that is fun and easy to teach, prepares students for state assessments AND real life,  is loved by students and teachers alike, is cutting edge but still user friendly and intuitive, and is affordable enough to appeal to our tax base. That'd be ideal right?

But let's get real.

Fourteen months ago you, the parents and teachers and community members, did something amazing. You forced the hand of a reluctant school district and got them to commit to purchasing new curriculum for ALL our students in ALL subject areas. That was amazing!

You got them to do something they hadn't done in decades. Congratulations!  So everything is perfect now right?  Teachers are all happy. They got what they wanted. Everything is sunshine and roses now. Our test scores are on the rise. The teacher shortage is over. And we never have to worry about anything ever again. Right?

Right?

Not exactly.

Okay.... this may come as a shock to you... but not everyone is 100% happy. 

The curriculum we purchased isn't perfect.  
I know that may be hard for some of you to hear. But it's the truth, and I think we need to talk about it.

First of all there is no such thing as perfect curriculum.  There's that pesky reality again. 

AKA: Zoloft

There are all different types of teachers and all different types of learners, so no curriculum is going to be an exact perfect fit for everyone. There is no silver bullet.  We are dealing with all types of monsters here, so we're going to need silver bullets, and wooden stakes, and garlic necklaces, and cups of water (ya know, for those aliens in Signs, with Mel Gibson, those were super scary). 

So let's start by accepting the fact that no one product will be loved by everyone. A teacher who has been at this game for 30+ years is going to have a lot different style than a teacher who is brand new and strait outta college.

The good news is, for those teachers who were happy making everything up all by themselves, they can still do that if they they really want to. But for those poor new teachers (of which we have hundreds) who were trying to teach without any materials and who have no teaching experience, having a curriculum to teach from is like receiving manna from heaven. So essentially we've given an amazing gift to some, without really hurting others.

Which brings us to our next epiphany. Not everyone is going to feel equally grateful for new curriculum because not everyone was equally hungry for it.  

If we had a thousand people in a room, and five hundred of them were starving (and had been starving for over twenty years), we could all agree that was a problem worth addressing. The district's solution to this problem was first to deny that anyone was starving at all. They then said EVERYONE was starving and it was too expensive to feed them all. Then they suggested we do a needs assessment to study the people for a year to find out who was and was not starving. The teachers refused to accept any of these options and said, the time for talking is over, let's just get these people fed!  So they hastily bought food for all one thousand people. 

I don't remember ordering broccoli!

 It is good food. It is nutritious food. But not everyone is going to enjoy the food the same way. Obviously the people who were starving will love finally getting to eat.  But some of the less hungry people may be saying to themselves,"I don't like this flavor. I liked my old food." 

The good news is we fed all the people!  Or in this case we acquired (or are in the process of acquiring) curriculum for all. Just because people have varying levels of enthusiasm about it doesn't mean they are unhappy with it or that it was a bad choice.  It just means they are still adjusting.

And they aren't just adjusting to new curriculum, they are adjusting to to a whole new style of teaching (AKA Common Core). We have never had common core aligned curriculum in Pasco before. That means as our kids have lined up to take the state assessments, they have never been properly prepared for them.  This new curriculum will hopefully change that. Hopefully the style of instruction and assessment will more closely mirror the assessments our students must pass in order to graduate. It's a lot less memorization of facts and a lot more critical thinking. That means more work for teachers and students alike. And like a plate of vegetables, it may not be easy to swallow, but in the long run it will be good for us.

Change is hard.  Even change we WANT to have happen is hard.  It just is. This is a year of growing pains. And next year will be too. That's not a sign that something is wrong, that's a sign a growth.  And if there is one thing we are familiar with here in Pasco, it's GROWTH!

So as you talk to your children and their teachers about how they are liking the new curriculum, remember it's not a magic pony that never poops and has tangle-free hair. It's just a set of books. 

And books aren't a lifetime commitment. This may be hard for us to understand in Pasco since we've had the same books for eternity here, but they are meant to be used and replaced. We aren't married to these books. We're just dating right now. In a couple of years if it doesn't work out, we can break up, and start dating a new curriculum. And with each new relationship we will get better at knowing ourselves and what we are looking for in a long term educational relationship.

Selecting curriculum is a skill we've never had the pleasure of practicing until now. With each new curriculum adoption, we'll get better. And our kids will be better off because of it.




P.S.If you need a quick laugh, check out one of our school board members suggesting we give all the librarians a round of applause for getting the new curriculum ready for all of our schools. The school board video is RIGHT HERE and it starts at about the 10:30 mark.  Now I'm not suggesting that librarians don't deserve a thank you. They sure do. But it's a strange sentiment from the same people who took legal action against the teachers who were fighting so hard to get that very same curriculum that we are now cheering about.