Curriculum committee recommends Amplify Desmos as preferred middle-school math resource; pricing and final purchase to return in April

The Waunakee Community School District Curriculum Committee reviewed results from a pilot of two middle-school math programs and reported that Amplify Desmos (publisher: Amplify, built on Illustrative Mathematics and partnered with Desmos) was the highest-rated option across the district’s selection criteria. The committee met March 11; no formal adoption vote was taken. Staff said they will return in April with pricing and a recommended one-year blended subscription that pairs digital access with printed student workbooks, then decide whether to proceed with a longer-term adoption.

Committee staff told members that 19 classroom and support teachers in grades 5–8 completed the pilot survey and weighted 10 selection criteria to reach the result. The three most heavily weighted criteria, staff said, were: materials that support all students in learning; materials that promote student discourse and student ownership of learning; and student engagement. Based on those teacher-weighted criteria, staff reported that Amplify Desmos led on nine of the 10 categories and had the highest total weighted score at both pilot schools.

Staff described the planned purchasing approach as a seven-year adoption window but said teachers and administrators expect to begin with a one-year blended subscription (digital platform plus printed consumables) in Year 1 and then use the first-year experience to decide whether to commit to the full adoption. The district’s high school Algebra 1 team is conducting a separate, slower evaluation of Amplify Desmos for high-school algebra; staff said that team’s decision is not tied to the committee’s middle-school recommendation.

The committee also reviewed the district’s broader textbook and curriculum project requests. Staff identified several higher-cost items on the list, including a new AP Psychology text (listed at $167 per copy) and an intermediate-school ELA package. Staff said the aggregate curriculum-project request will have to be reduced to fit the budget; they estimated the current bottom-line request must be lowered by roughly $27,000 through cost-sharing, delaying some projects, or reducing allocated hours. Staff said they will present a revised, lower figure at the April meeting.

Committee members asked about implementation and accountability. Staff said large-scale student-facing textbook inventories and checkouts at the high school are handled by library media and an add-on textbook-management module; Chris Sheeban and Lemtech staff oversee that process. For summer curriculum development hours, staff said teachers must enter scheduled time in TrueTime, and the district requests documentation of work; most collaborative work, staff said, occurs on-site at district schools and can be monitored if administrators choose to observe or join virtual meetings.

On intellectual-property and materials-handling questions, the superintendent, Dr. Brown, stated that the district’s policy assigns ownership of curriculum products to the district rather than to individual teachers and described common processes for transferring materials when an instructor departs. Staff acknowledged the district lacks a strong, quantitative model for measuring the direct impact of a single curriculum change on student outcomes, noting that changes such as schedule adjustments, professional development, and instructional materials together will affect future test scores.

Next steps: staff will return to the committee in April with the Amplify pricing options and an updated curriculum-project funding request reduced to fit budget targets. Committee members indicated they expect to consider a motion on textbook and curriculum purchases at that meeting. The high-school Algebra 1 team will report separately if it recommends adopting Amplify Desmos at the high-school level.