Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Elementary Reading Curriculum topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Chippewa Valley pilots two evidence-based reading series after publisher phases out Journeys
Summary
Chippewa Valley Schools is replacing Journeys after the publisher phased out the series; the district used state grant funds to pilot Wonders and CKLA and will present a formal recommendation to the board this spring.
Chippewa Valley Schools is moving to replace its elementary reading curriculum after the district’s long-used Journeys series — adopted in February 2017 — is being phased out by its publisher. District staff told the curriculum subcommittee on March 3 that the district received state grant money to support a switch and has piloted two vetted, evidence-aligned programs this school year.
District officials said the state awarded Chippewa Valley “just a little over $1.9 million” to cover implementation costs for a reading program aligned with the science of reading. Maria Licari, Executive Director of Elementary Education, and Gabby Castillo, elementary ELA curriculum leader, joined the presentation; curriculum lead Keith Aberowski described the pilot process.
The district used a rubric-based, teacher-led review to narrow vendors. "We reviewed four highly vetted, highly rated programs by the reading panel," Aberowski said, and participants ranked materials to pare the list to two finalists: Wonders and CKLA. The district ran an eight-week Wonders pilot before winter break and an eight-week CKLA pilot after the break. Teachers who participated received publisher training and support from building reading interventionists and district curriculum staff.
Why it matters: the district said the change responds to national and state shifts toward curricula that follow the science of reading and to the practical fact that the current publisher will no longer support Journeys. Licari told the committee the state grant required adoption decisions to be evidence-aligned and referenced a nonprofit rubric used to vet candidate programs.
Next steps and timing: pilot teachers will meet to complete rubric-based feedback; a representative committee will compile routing sheets from each elementary building and present recommendations to the K–12 Curriculum Council. Staff expect to bring a formal recommendation to the full board in April and, if adopted, implement the new series for the 2025–26 school year.
District staff emphasized teacher choice in the pilot and the transparent, teacher-led review. "Everybody had an opportunity to hear from the publishers, hear about each of the programs, actually come through the materials, and begin to ask those questions based on the blueprint," Aberowski said.
Clarifying details and limits: the presenters described the state grant as competitive and restricted to reading materials and professional development; the district said the grant funds must be spent according to the grant’s terms. Staff reported variations in teacher participation by building (some volunteer grade-level teams, some single teachers). The district did not provide a line-item breakdown in the meeting; the exact final purchase price and publisher contract terms were not specified at the subcommittee meeting.
A teacher-led recommendation meeting is scheduled the week after the subcommittee meeting; staff expect the K–12 Curriculum Council to review compiled feedback before the board considers adoption.
