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Lynn outlines K–8 social studies curriculum pilots; district plans phased adoption with teacher development
Summary
District curriculum staff described pilots and planned rollouts for K–8 social studies, including Children Discovering Justice for K–2, Investing in History pilots for grades 3–7, and the Democratic Knowledge Project for grade 8, with emphasis on teacher professional development and open‑source materials.
District curriculum staff told the school committee the district will pilot and phase in several social‑studies instructional programs next year and emphasized professional development and open‑access materials.
“Kristen DiMarco, assistant director of curriculum for history and social studies, said the district is ‘committed to providing the highest quality, culturally responsive materials,’ and described several pilot programs and adoption plans for 2025–26.”
DiMarco said Children Discovering Justice (CDJ) will be a core resource for K–2 and that the district ran a teacher‑leader cohort of 13 K–2 teachers this year. She said 100% of pilot survey respondents “agree or strongly agree that CDJ should be a core resource for our K to 2,” and the district will run a district‑wide pilot next year with associated after‑school and summer professional development.
For grades 3–4, DiMarco described a 39‑teacher pilot of Investing in History (Investigating History) that included six full days of professional development and said the district planned a broader pilot next year with published materials and state partner support. She said the grade‑5 materials were already published and had strong pilot results.
DiMarco said the Democratic Knowledge Project (DKP) will be the core resource for grade 8 after a local pilot, and that the district is aligning rollout schedules to avoid teacher overload by sequencing science and social‑studies professional development for overlapping grade teams.
She also told the committee that third‑party reviewers Curate and EdReports have not yet completed reviews of social‑studies materials; DESE maintains a separate review process for history and social‑studies adoption, DiMarco said.
No formal committee adoption votes took place during the presentation; staff framed the work as implementation planning and pilots to be monitored through teacher feedback and district professional learning plans.
