Board hears update on ELA, math curriculum, guaranteed standards and teacher planning time

The Yakima School Board heard on March 18 from Jamie Lee, executive director of teaching and learning, about curriculum adoption, guaranteed standards and professional learning work across the district.

Why it matters: The presentation described how the district is narrowing state standards into 8–10 guaranteed standards per grade level, aligning curricula and using structured unit planning and common assessments to measure mastery.

Key points

- Curriculum choices: Lee said preschool uses the Creative Curriculum; kindergarten through fifth grade uses Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) for non‑dual language classrooms and a partner curriculum for dual language classrooms; sixth through 12th grades use "My Perspectives" for English/language arts. For mathematics, the district uses the Eureka program for elementary grades and "veil" for middle and high school, per the slide deck presented.

- Guaranteed standards and unit planning: The district has identified 8–10 guaranteed standards per grade that teams will teach in depth. Lee described a PLC (professional learning community) process in which teachers unpack standards into learning targets, select instructional strategies, build common formative and end‑of‑unit assessments and analyze student work to guide interventions and extensions.

- Professional learning supports: The district gives teacher teams time on Mondays and district‑directed early‑release Wednesdays for planning and PLC work. Instructional facilitators and coaches received training on unit planning, math foundational skills and supports for multilingual learners.

- Student work and contests: Lee said the annual Voices writing contest received 132 submissions this year (up from 77 last year), with more than 20 submissions in Spanish and 37 winners selected; an awards ceremony was scheduled for May 6.

Clarifying details and next steps

- Teachers will develop common end‑of‑unit assessments over the summer to gauge mastery of guaranteed standards. - Principals and instructional facilitators will continue monthly PLC work and mentoring supports for new teachers.

Board Q&A and explanation

Board members asked clarifying questions about "backwards planning" and how unit planning translates to classroom practice; Lee described the step‑by‑step process of identifying standards, breaking them into learning targets, aligning instruction and returning to analyze assessment data.

Ending: The board received the curriculum update and asked staff to continue implementation work; no formal action was taken at the March 18 meeting.