Standards-Based Instructional Materials
Context: Policies and Practices
SIDEBAR:
The Leadership Academy provided OMS staff with the time to learn about,
use, and select the instructional materials for district support
Every workday afternoon from November 2002 through January 2003, the staff of the new CPS Office of Mathematics and Science (OMS) met for Leadership Academy professional development sessions. They spent about half of these sessions learning about standards-based instructional materials. Other afternoons they discussed their experiences teaching math or science using materials under consideration.
A little more than half of the time spent on learning about instructional materials was devoted to the consideration of standards-based math programs, and approximately a third of the time was devoted to science. In total, vendors presented about a dozen standards-based mathematics and science curricula to the Leadership Academy. During these Leadership Academy sessions, experts gave presentations, engaged participants in discussions, or provided opportunities for participants to utilize new skills or try the materials.
An Academy member planner noted that even though the three-month time period was extremely generous, there was time for only an overview of the materials and “it would be really great to be able to observe…the lessons over a longer period of time.”
At the end of the 3 months, OMS staff narrowed their choice of curricula to support to four math programs and a scope and sequence for science.
