Beginning Primary Teachers’ Experiences With Curriculum Guides and Pacing Calendars for Math and Science Instruction

Abstract

Considerable research suggests that standardizing curricular materials can undermine teachers’ ability to facilitate learning. Nonetheless, U.S. school districts’ curriculum guides have become increasingly standardized, with teachers being required to follow predetermined pacing calendars indicating which standards to teach during specific months, weeks, or days. Pressure to comply with curriculum guides and their associated pacing calendars is a particular concern among beginning teachers. Given these issues, this investigation explored three first-year teachers’ experiences with curriculum guides and pacing calendars in the primary grades. Although curriculum guides helped participants learn the curriculum and decide how to sequence the content, rigid campus policies that required participants to follow pacing calendars led to uncomfortable professional dilemmas and teacher resistance. Findings suggest that despite novice teachers’ fears of being reprimanded and their lack of professional knowledge, they carry out “principled resistance” to standardized curricular mandates according to their understanding of students’ needs and their deeply held convictions about what is best for the children in their classrooms.

Keywords:

• curriculum guides
• beginning teachers
• pacing guides

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank Michael Faggella-Luby, Steve Sherwood, and the anonymous reviewers who provided feedback on early versions of this article.

Notes

1. All names are pseudonyms, with the exception of CSCOPE.

2. CSCOPE includes a Year-at-a-Glance document to assist districts in creating six-week pacing calendars that work around events such as district-wide holidays, professional development days, and state testing days (see Merritt, 2011). Therefore, pacing calendars for Texas school districts using CSCOPE may vary.