After surfing through the section of the NJ DOE's website that is devoted to the CCCS, I discovered that educators, parents, and community members can easily access basic information about the Core Curriculum in New Jersey. Included in this information is a brief history of educational reform in New Jersey and an introduction to the CCCS, as well as the actual CCCS. The site is organized in a simple format that makes it easy to use and understand. Users can also communicate with the DOE through the site.
Unfortunately, the actual information provided is so basic that I don't think it is of much value to any person that might access the site. Educators already have copies of this information and are required to use it. The site might be of more value to teachers if it included ideas for implementing the CCCS, as well as examples of best practice teaching methods. Parents and community members may get a little more out of the site due to the fact that they can access the CCCS. To make the page more even more pertinent to these users, it would helpful if the site linked to specific school districts, as well as if it included tips for ensuring that a school district is meeting the challenges of the CCCS.
One of the most important aspects to note, is the fact that many educators, parents, and community members do not have daily access to the internet. So, this information is much harder for them to access and use. Because of this fact, it is very important for school districts to have hard copies of this info, as well as to provide parents and community members with opportunities to use the school's computer facilities. Additionally, partnerships between school districts and public libraries can help to get this info into the hands of people that may not be able to access it in their own homes.
This is a very basic website that can be used for simple informational needs by users that have internet access. I would recommend that the NJ DOE consider ways to add substance to the page by including best practice teaching methods and tips for getting parents and community members involved with curriculum. I would also suggest that the NJ DOE utilize other community resources in order to provide parents and community members ways in which to access this information, if they don't have internet access.
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5 comments:
I believe the website is actually quite detailed. In fact, it is not basic at all. It actually explains each standard, strand and cpi. As for the recommendations, I totally agree with you. Best practices and implementations should be presented in order to render the website a more effective instructional and community tool.
I like how you brought up internet and computer access as a problem. It's pretty sad that we still do not have the proper access as a community; there are too many people without computers and internet access.
I also like how you mentioned partnerships as being able to help dissemination of this information as well as district links.
Overall, I still feel the CCCS are too ambitious!
Hi Ellen,
I agree with you. This site does have basic information. It's a good idea to have links to best practices and to school sites. I'm not sure how this site will help the community, however. In my blog - I also stated that. It could be more detailed to assist more people.
Ellen, I agree with you that I also think that this site would be more valuable to teachers if it included ideas and examples for teachers. I personally would use this site more. I have a copy of the standards and use them every week so I hardly access this part of website. I also agree with you when you stated that this website would be difficult for some community members to access. Not everyone has access to a computer. The schools I feel should help out the community by help keeping them up to date.
I agree that the website does have very basic information about the curriculum and also question how useful it would be to parents and teachers. The only thing that I did like about the website was the activities that the site suggested to help teach the core content standards. The activities for science allowed the teacher to engage the students while meeting the core content standards.
Ellen-- You mention the lack of internet access- many people call this the "digital divide". With many organization going to paperless systems, those without the technology will lack the access and the information. Some say creating another subclass of economics!
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