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Board reviews recommendation to adopt HMH English language arts materials for middle school; seven-year package estimated at $234,908.70
Summary
Instructional staff recommended HMH ELA materials for middle school after multi-stakeholder review; teachers and a sample of parents favored HMH for alignment with the Virginia Literacy Act and for digital supports. The seven-year package cost was cited at $234,908.70 including implementation supports.
Miss Miller and middle-school instructional staff presented a recommendation to adopt a new English language arts (ELA) textbook series for middle school, with HMH identified as the preferred option following a multi-step review.
The review process included district teachers (ELA, SPED, reading specialists), instructional coaches and a parent review window. Staff compared two vendors (referred to as "perfection" in the review and HMH), evaluated standards alignment against Virginia Standards of Learning and the Virginia Literacy Act, and piloted materials. Teacher reviewers and participating parents preferred HMH for its modern presentation, scaffolding for English-language learners, online resources, embedded assessments and alignment with elementary materials already used in the district.
Teacher Tiffany Whitlow told the board the HMH materials are "more modern and visually appealing," include built-in scaffolding and online assessment and provide immediate feedback for student writing. Staff noted some implementation work will be required to put student digital copies into the district platform and described an implementation-support package that would include in-person training and coaching.
Finance staff provided a total seven-year cost of $234,908.70 for the package with implementation supports and class sets/novels. Board members did not take a final adoption vote at the meeting; staff presented the proposal for consideration and asked to bring final documents to a future meeting.
Why it matters: Adoption would change instructional materials across middle grades, affect classroom instruction and assessment and require implementation supports and classroom sets. Staff said the package includes materials aligned to the Virginia Literacy Act where required for intervention.
