8.9.13 — To parents, educators, administrators:
From Donna Garner: If you have doubts about the academic quality of CSCOPE lessons, the following 5th grade CSCOPE science lesson with comments by Janice VanCleave should validate your concerns.
Janice VanCleave is well-known internationally for her “Science for Every Kid” series and is an authority on making students’ science experiments fascinating while building them on sound science. Her materials are used by science teachers all over the world: http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0471503819.
Janice VanCleave is a former secondary classroom teacher who has written more than 50 science and math books for kids and educators. Her reading audience spans ages from kindergarten to high school seniors. Janice’s books are translated in fifteen languages and to date there have been more than two million copies sold. So it is safe to say that kids and educators around the world are playing and having fun doing Janice VanCleave’s investigations.
Ms. VanCleave has taken the time to go through this 5th grade CSCOPE lesson and evaluate it for accuracy. Here are her introductory comments and the link to view the CSCOPE lesson along with her reviews:
From Janice VanCleave: The following 5th grade lesson is the perfect example of why schools should not use CSCOPE. I actually got tired of correcting this lesson and stopped. I’ll review it more later, but there are enough errors marked to let any parent know that administrators/educators who choose CSCOPE for their district are setting their students up for failure on the state-mandated tests (i.e., STAAR tests).
LINK TO 5TH GRADE CSCOPE LESSON:
http://www.txcscopereview.com/2013/cscope-5-sci-phy-properties/
Donna Garner
