For a curriculum adoption to work successfully in a school, the administration, teachers, parents, and students should be satisfied with the final selection. This is why the process must be methodically designed and executed. Otherwise, the principal will have three teachers sitting in his office asking if the curriculum can be changed. Some schools want to use the same publisher K-12 in all subject areas. Others prefer mixing curriculums, relying on the individual whims of classroom teachers.
Some teachers prefer workbooks, others hardback texts.
Some try to eliminate as many commercial materials as possible and rely more on teacher creativity and student notetaking and activities. And, in most schools finances are limited. What is most important, however, is that the final choices of the curriculum committee aid the teachers as much as possible in meeting the basic cognitive requirement of all curriculums - a structured, functional scope and sequence and goals and objectives that meet the academic, spiritual, and social needs of all students. This is the heart of the curriculum and should be the foundation of the curriculum selection process. Dr. Beverly White is principal of Kingsport Christian School in Kingsport, Tennessee, and serves as the Education Coordinator for the Tennessee Association of Christian Schools.