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Board approves multiple curriculum resources, new personal finance requirement implementation timeline
Summary
Franklin Regional approved a suite of curricular materials and program renewals — including life‑skills ELA resources, watershed kits required by the state, keyboarding curriculum and benchmarking tools — and reviewed updates to a required personal finance course that will take effect in 2026–27.
The Franklin Regional School Board approved several curriculum and instructional items Monday, including resources aimed at special education life‑skills classrooms, state‑required watershed education materials, early‑grade novel lists and keyboarding instruction to prepare students for online PSSA testing.
Curriculum staff presented a request for a Retopia life‑skills ELA resource for autistic support life‑skills classrooms to fill an instructional gap. The board also approved six watershed kits from Shared Waters (listed at roughly $1,000 per kit in the presentation) to support fifth‑grade teachers and meet Pennsylvania’s meaningful watershed educational experience requirement. District staff described the kits as part of a broader alignment to state standards.
The board approved a 30‑day review list of primary novels for K–2 and a novel list for middle‑school review (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children). Administrators also sought approval for a keyboarding curriculum, Keyboarding Without Tears, which district staff said begins in kindergarten and progresses through fifth grade to build fine‑motor and keyboard skills ahead of the PSSA’s transition to online testing. Staff said a fifth‑grade benchmark goal of roughly 30 words per minute would be used as a guideline for students without motor challenges and that the program would allow triannual benchmarking.
Other approved items included renewal of Renaissance Star 360 benchmarking for K–8 as part of MTSS, purchase of an American literature and rhetoric honors 11 textbook and approval of the Joy Luck Club for an honors 11 novel unit. The board also approved broader secondary social studies resources spanning grades 6–12; one board member noted concerns that ancillary materials in the packet were at a lower reading level and urged the department to seek more challenging supplemental texts.
Administrators briefed the board on changes to a personal finance course that will be required as at least one semester of instruction for high school students beginning in the 2026–27 course selection window; staff said some additional content highlighted in the materials is not currently taught but could be incorporated by teachers where feasible before the full rollout.
Board members voted to approve these items as part of the consent agenda and during the curricular presentations; administration said materials with digital components would be confirmed in vendor quotes and that some resources were pilot programs in specific grades before broader adoption.
