District proposes open-source government and economics textbooks from Rice University for 2025–26

The district’s secondary curriculum supervisor recommended at the June 10 meeting that the board approve two open educational resources (OER) for 9th-grade government and economics classes: American Government and Principles of Economics, materials originating from a Rice University nonprofit initiative.

The supervisor said the resources are free to use, align to updated Pennsylvania standards for personal finance and economics, and were recommended by College Board for government coursework. “The resource that they found that was aligned, is that it's an open educational resource... This comes out of Rice University. It's a non profit initiative,” the curriculum supervisor said.

Teachers who reviewed the materials conducted initial alignment work and the administration said teachers will continue alignment and differentiation for district standards if the board approves the change. Because the materials are downloadable, administrators said the district could print copies for staff or students who need paper versions.

A board member urged that future textbook or curricular adoptions route through the curriculum committee once that committee is fully operating. The curriculum supervisor said committees are being established in August and that the expedited timeline was to give teachers time to begin alignment work for implementation in the 2026–27 school year.

Administration said the recommendation will come before the board on June 24 for formal approval.