For the first time in a decade, city schools will have new
curriculum for math and reading, and as what students learn
changes, so will the books and other materials. NY1's Lindsey
Christ filed the following report. City elementary and middle
schools are expected to have completely altered what, when and
how they teach by September. That's because New York has joined
most of the country in committing to one set of learning
standards, called the Common Core. For the first time, fourth
graders in southern California should soon be learning about
obtuse angles at the same time as fourth graders in the Bronx.
"This is a big change," said Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
And if what students learn changes, so must the books,
worksheets, textbooks, teacher guides and lesson plans, known
together as 'curriculum'. That means textbook companies are set
to make a lot of money. But Walcott said that many weren't
initially willing to make real changes themselves. "Publishers
were trying to be very free in the use of sl