Many parents and teachers have researched, reviewed, attended the parent events, and discussed the Fishtank Learning curriculum in great depth. The WCPS Director of Curriculum plans to sell this before the Wicomico County Board of Education. We have six main concerns, and hope that the board has thoroughly read through all the reports of this curriculum that has poor reviews, contains political bias, and centered on an agenda of political activism. The Fishtank curriculum is a social experiment that is unfit for Wicomico County and here is why.
1. Fishtank does not have all green approving reviews in any grade level.
Many programs do, as shown in reviews on EdReports and added below. The reasons why Fishtank received poor red ratings in teacher usability were concerning and showed how underdeveloped the Fishtank program seems to be.
Concerning words like these that were copied from Ed Reports on Fishtank Learning:
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Does not meet expectations for use, is not present, presents a challenge
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Materials lack (instead of a detailed lesson plan),
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Limited, detailed planning is left up to the teachers,
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Lessons within the framework need to be developed,
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Publisher’s Document has an eight hour school day (which is not the norm)
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Does not meet the criteria for student resources
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All standards are not identified
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No material provided for student consumption
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Lack of explicit and lesson-specific support
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Limited support
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Limited guidance for communications with families
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This design could be challenging for new or inexperienced educators to navigate
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Limited evidence of embedded technology
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Specifically states that the intent is to provide a “skinny” framework that provides frameworks rather than detailed lesson plans, etc.
2. We are told that Wicomico County needs a new curriculum because the current programs have poor reviews and don’t meet the criteria.
The current reading and writing programs have a red area just as Fishtank does. Our children did not learn to write with the Lucy Calkins Units of Study. When asked why their writing was so poor, teachers told us that students were encouraged to write whatever they wanted without actually being taught. The current reading supervisor brought Lucy Calkins to Wicomico County, but now says that program is inferior. If this is the rationale for needing a new program, why is the county settling for anything other than green approval ratings?
There are other curriculum companies that have green approval ratings. The reports that are being used as the reasoning in favor of Fishtank over Wicomico’s current programs and other available programs does not make any sense.
3. Why aren’t we hearing from any other school or district that has tried Fishtank?
This is concerning.