Achieving Backward Design

It seems to me that experts are always changing their opinions regarding how a proper education should be achieved. The idea of teaching through the backward Design model seems very good. Teachers should first think about what the students need to learn and what the goals of a lesson should be. My concern regarding Backward Design is about the bureaucracy that goes in the Abbott districts. The idea of essential questions is great and we have spoke about such approaches at our staff meetings. However, for those people who work in Newark, nothing ever seems to be right. Although change is always welcome, teachers are always under pressure to achieve high on standardized exams. Teachers are expected to think outside the box, yet the curriculum is written straight from a textbook. Following the textbook is crucial in order for the students to achieve well on the mandated exams. Backward Design allows teachers to have some autonomy in the classroom. However, it seems to me that teachers are losing the autonomy they have always enjoyed. They are under pressure to raise test scores, causing entire departments to teach strictly for an exam. I guess teachers might use the Backward Design in order to raise standardized test scores. The one thing that bothers me is that Abbott districts always seem to be the ones experimenting with every new theory and idea regarding education. Although they are the districts that are in need of help, those districts are always trying new things in a short span of time. There is never enough time for the programs to really achieve their full potential. I am afraid that this may also be true for the Backward Design, by the time teachers are ready to implement it in their classrooms and they are perfecting it, something new comes along and it is time to switch and follow a new theory proposed by another educational researcher.