Preliminary returns from a recent UFT survey of school chapter leaders show that most schools are still missing all or part of the materials they need to teach the new common core curriculum.

More than 125 chapter leaders have responded so far whose schools ordered outside curriculum approved by the DOE.  Of this group, more than 80 per cent said as the year began their schools still lacked all or part of the curriculum materials and supplies they needed  for the reading portion of common core, while 65 percent said they did not receive all the required materials in math.

“Student test scores dropped last year in part because teachers were never provided curriculum that matched the new and more difficult common core standards. The DOE promised that these materials would be in teachers’ hands by now, but teachers all over the system are telling us that they still don’t have all the supplies they need to teach to the common core,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

Teachers reported missing student and teacher supplies, the building blocks for creating student lesson plans for the new standards. They also cited insufficient or low-quality professional development on the new curriculums and associated materials. 

 “The DOE has known for years that the common core standards would arrive,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. “It is unacceptable that as school begins they still haven’t provided the supplies our students and teachers need.”

The survey asked which reading and math curriculum each school purchased, whether the curriculums and associated materials ( curriculum maps, teacher guides, etc) had arrived, how much training teachers had received on the new materials and the quality of that training, among other questions.  The survey has been sent to chapter leaders at all elementary and middle schools.  Full results are expected next week.