The Elementary Teacher and the Instructional Materials Coordinator Plan Together for Media Integration With Classroom Teaching and Learning

An instructional materials program is an integral part of a quality educational program. The educational goal of our free society is to provide a quality education for every citizen and an optimum education for each citizen so that all citizens will be functionally literate. In our complex society, to be functionally literate means more than being able to read and to write. It means being able to read, to write, to think, and to act with competence. To think and to act with competence means being capable of translating knowledge into constructive action and rational behavior. It also means being capable of solving the problems encountered today and being capable of solving adequately the problems to be encountered in the future. To develop such competence is the purpose and the goal of education in our democracy. To reach this goal necessitates the availability of knowledge-building and knowledge-extending materials and a planned program for media-usage. A quality, optimum educational program designed to develop functional literacy requires that learning go beyond the limitations of the textbook and the confines of the classroom. An optimum education requires that learning be individualized. A textbook can generalize, but it can not individualize teaching nor can it individualize learning. Knowledge-building media must be provided to meet the individual student's needs, interests, goals, and abilities. An instructional materials program is recognized today as the logically, economically, and educationally effective and efficient means of providing the materials, the services, and the guidance necessary for the full development and the optimum realization of a quality educational program designed to develop functional literacy.published or submitted for publicatio