Posted on 09/02/2003 3:49:09 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
AUSTIN -- Texas history teachers this year won't have to use antiquated textbooks that name Dan Morales as attorney general. After all, the state's former top legal official is headed to federal prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion charges. Other textbooks won't be as current.
Despite pleas from the state Board of Education, the Legislature cut textbook funding by $182 million this year. As the school year begins, some books are 14 years old, and gaffes in accuracy are inevitable.
For example: The Food and Drug Administration now recommends two to three servings of dairy a day, but outdated health books still recommend four daily dairy servings.
Jim Hutchinson, a high school health teacher in Bastrop, said recent strides in research and health care have turned numerous truths into fallacies.
"In the AIDS and HIV chapter, treatments were so limited at the time the book was written there were just three possible treatments. Now there are probably hundreds," Hutchinson said. "Also, it's so limited with symptoms simply because of the time it was published."
Health books used in all grade levels were published in 1989 and were implemented in the 1990-91 school year.
Education officials weren't planning to renew those books until the 2005-06 school year anyway, largely because priorities were placed on other subjects after a 1995 curriculum overhaul, according to Robert Leos, director of textbook administration for the Texas Education Agency.
Most of the books scheduled to be adopted in November weren't funded. But money for those books likely won't come until after the next regular legislative session -- in 2005. Until then, teachers will have to rely on outdated books, most of them about 10 years old.
Of the books scheduled for adoption this year by the State Board of Education, biology will be the only textbook to be renewed. New biology books are scheduled to be adopted in November.
Books used to teach English to Spanish-speaking students were among those forced into extended lifespans.
Others include agricultural science and technology education, business education, home economics education, technical education/industrial technology education, marketing education, trade and industrial education, technology applications, career orientation and health science technology education.
New social studies textbooks, with the Morales reference, were replaced earlier this year -- helping to bring books up to date with newer curriculum mandates.
"The new books are aligned with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and assessment," said Rosemary Morrow, administrative superintendent for social studies for the Austin school district. "The outdated textbooks just meant we didn't have things aligned to our state standards."
The new books, Morrow said, have extra software and support tools that were not available before.
Hutchinson, who's also a high school football coach, said keeping books current could go a long way to improving students' lagging enthusiasm.
"It's just so outdated, but luckily we have the Internet so we can supplement a lot of the outdated stuff," he said. "It's just not an adequate learning tool right now."
Or thousands.
Probably.
I graduated from high school in 1968 and from medical school in 1976.
I guarantee -absolutely, positively, 'effin GUARANTEE-that I could teach biology, chemistry, and physics through 12AP with books from 1965.
And the results would probably be better.
I majored in English Literature in college. I also guarantee (given that William Shakespeare died in 1616) that I could teach high school english through 12AP without any books published since 1940.
The whole discussion is absurd.
The basics appropriate to grades K-8 have not changed since the pyramids were built.
Isn't Shakespeare outdated? :)
Excellent point!
Strongly disagree.
Science is a method, using tools which change very slowly.
The most important tool, reasoning ability, changes not at all.
At the postgraduate level, currency with the developing literature in your subdiscipline is critical.
In high school, it's stupid. Every second spent on "the latest discoveries" is a second wasted, since the half-life of new discoveries is less than the time it will take a high school sophomore to graduate from college.
Memorizing constantly changing (and half-wrong) facts has produced a generation of science illiterates.
Yes/1 To start with, 5 problems may not be enough to develop understanding of a new concept. The review is the strong point of Saxon. And there is an extreme shortage of problem solving. PS is not just a word problem, that they know they will use the concept being taught. PS should require thinking. That has always been Saxon's weak point. And he would not change to meet state requirements. **
Huh? 5 problems? Perhaps you read incorrectly. 30 problems are the usual, along with extra problems in the back of the book, for Saxon.
I'll let my daughter know she isn't up to par. Last year while in 7th grade she tested out at 10th grade level in math. She uses Saxon.
I'll let the junior and state colleges near me know about your opinion as well. They use Saxon.
Further, I'll email Dr Jay Wile, PhD in Nuclear Chemistry, about your findings. Not only has he written science texts, he endorses Saxon as a go along.
You may have been a math teacher...but you aren't the queen of the subject.
Thanks for the ping Dawn...even though I'm a couple weeks late. You pinged my former screen name. :o)
The 5 problems I referred to are that there are usually 5 problems on the new topic being covered, with the remainder being review. There are usually 30 problems per lesson, plus more at the back of the book.
Grades 6-8 don't use Saxon. Harcourt is used for 6 & 7, Prentice for Algebra, maybe Pre-algebra. Harcourt isn't hard enough, to me, for 6-7. I have taught out of older Harcourt books. There is not enough new stuff for these grades. I helped one of the kids work on homework - fractions - and the understanding was not there - after 5 years of Saxon.
Prentice is not too bad, but I prefer Glencoe/McGraw-Hill for newer books. I used Dolcianni (Houghton Mifflin) for years in Algebra.
You stopped homeschooling your son because you hated the math program?
As far as Saxon being charasmatic, you sure couldn't determine that from his books. Black and white...no flashy colors. My daughter prefers this. And very honestly...it works for her. :o) Can't argue with that.
I've heard good things about Chicago Math...and a program called Singapore Math (not sure of the exact text name).
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