Board in process of updating text books
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

JACKSON - The Jackson Board of Education is in the process of replacing outdated text books with newer instructional materials.

At a May 20 board meeting, Assistant Superintendent Lu Anne Meinders brought board members up to date with the latest information pertaining to social studies texts, materials and curriculum.

Meinders said areas that have been under review this year include guidance, career education, family and consumer science, and social studies. She said there are committees that work with central office administrators and building administrators on the curriculum adoption.

She explained that publishers give district administrators text books that are reviewed by committee members. Choices are narrowed down and teachers are surveyed for their opinion. Publishers' representatives then come to the district and provide workshops for teachers. At those meetings, supplemental materials are examined.

Surveys are given to classroom teachers and teachers of special-needs students. Samples of the materials are provided for circulation within the district for a period of two to three months. Department meetings are held to review the materials, and committee members then discuss the pros and cons of each item based on the survey results, Meinders said.

"They then begin working on scope sequence proficiencies, instructional guides and pacing guides," she said. "All of this is done concurrently with the recommendation to central office for one particular publisher and text book series."

After a budgeting process, a final recommendation is made to the school board so that the new materials may be ordered.

Teachers may pick up the materials during the summer and prepare for the upcoming school year.

"Over 200 teachers came in last year to not only pick up their text books, but they also participated in workshops that lasted several days,"Meinders said. "It was wonderful. We had numerous teachers participating prior to in-service day and prior to that first day of school."

This year administrators have scheduled an in-service day for October when publishers will come in and give presentations to teachers on all grade levels.

Right now district representatives are looking at pacing guides and recommended reading lists. Social studies is a multifaceted process this year, Meinders said.

Elementary school teachers and administrators suggested that the district phase in with leveled readers for social studies for the 2008-09 school year.

In the middle schools, online text books are being explored and teachers are looking into online services for students.

"When [the students] come home, they do not necessarily have to carry their text books," Meinders told the board. "They will be able to go on to the Internet and access their text book."

At the high school level, the social studies subject matter varies according to the course being taught. Some courses use supplemental materials and some courses rely more on a text book, she said.

Meinders said that during the 2009-10 school year, a new text book series is expected to be introduced at the elementary level. The middle school level will be looking at additional software features and the high school for each subject has different materials, she said.

She noted that text books and materials have to be aligned with the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and college boards curricula. Administrators try to determine if students are being properly prepared for standardized testing, Meinders said.

"We are beginning this summer with curriculum mapping, so a kindergarten teacher or an advanced placement (AP) teacher can see a graphic organizer and see how a subject in kindergarten leads progressively to an AP course for college," she said. "That's an important feature [we are adding] this year."

Meinders said Jackson had 388 students taking AP courses and 387 took the tests, which translates to 99.7 percent of those students who actually took the test. She noted that of the students who took the AP tests, 278 received a score of 3 or more, an indication to colleges that the student should receive college credit for that course.

She said the results indicate that Jackson is doing a fine job in the realm of curriculum and instruction for students from kindergarten through high school.

"I don't think I have ever met a classroom teacher that teaches a subject who does not try to instill upon their students a love and a joy of learning and a recognition of how important that is," Meinders said.