Note: CSCOPE is a vertically aligned scope and sequence used by hundreds of school districts.

Today, we conclude our examination of the illogical critiques of CSCOPE.  This doesn’t mean that I believe that CSCOPE is above reproach. Far from the case.  It is a useful product that can and should be subject to revision and improvements. But that is a conversation that is best addressed by rational parties and professional educators.

Anti-CSCOPE Argument Number 10: Some of the lessons in CSCOPE are bad, so obviously CSCOPE, as a whole, is bad.

Response: This argument holds little weight.  Yes, the lessons available in CSCOPE vary in quality.  So do lessons created by individual teachers. It’s a fact of instructional life. However, there is a solution to this and CSCOPE implements this.  CSCOPE reviews lessons constantly and culls weaker lessons (identified by both users and CSCOPE staff) on a regular basis. And CSCOPE itself advises teachers to modify or replace any lessons that do not meet the needs of a teacher’s class.  I have yet to find the perfect instructional resource.  All I need is a good to above average resource that teachers can leverage to improve the day-to-day quality of delivered instruction.  Implemented correctly, CSCOPE is such a resource.  

Anti-CSCOPE Argument Number 11: Wade LaBay (Director of the CSCOPE project) is an evil genius / incompetent bureaucrat who has hood winked an entire state.

Response: This one is easy. Dr. Labay is a brilliant, hard-working public educator who has dedicated himself to supporting teachers and students.  His parents were teachers, his in-laws were teachers and his wife a teacher. Under his leadership, where less than six years ago there was nothing available, Texas teachers now have on-demand access to TEKS aligned instructional resources. And considering the scale of the project, development costs have been negligible.  The problem facing Dr. Labay and his team is that they made the mistake of believing that if you do the right thing for the right reason, the idiots in the world will appreciate it.  What they are learning is that the World doesn’t really want a better mouse trap, the World just wants to be left alone.  For being so smart, how could they be so naive?    

Anti-CSCOPE Argument Number…   And the list keeps going on and get crazier as it does so. For example, “Have you heard that CSCOPE is a Marxist indoctrination plot?” I wish I were making this up.  At this point, I hope I have given you something to reflect on and ammunition if you are called on to defend your decision to provide teachers with the most critical of all instructional tools (a common scope and sequence) for ensuring sustained student performance improvement and teacher success.

Think. Work. Achieve. Your turn…

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