Brookline begins full K–5 rollout of Fish Tank ELA; 6–8 implementation partial with monitoring planned

Brookline — The School Committee received an update Sept. 18 on the district’s new English language arts curriculum and the plan to monitor its first-year implementation. District leaders said K–5 classrooms are using Fish Tank units as the core curriculum this school year, while grades 6–8 have a partial rollout with the goal of full implementation next year. "All students, regardless of their background or circumstance, need access to complex text," Kristen Gray, the district’s K–8 ELA coordinator, told the committee.

Why it matters: The curriculum change is the district’s largest coordinated adoption for K–8 literacy in several years and ties directly to the district strategic priority on teaching and learning. Staff said the shift affects classroom instruction, professional development needs, instructional materials purchasing, and the district’s near-term data collection and evaluation work.

What the district said: Curriculum staff described a multi‑year process that began with review work in…