CASTLEBERRY ISD presents five‑year curriculum audit, wins Texas Reads Texas Leads grant for K–3 literacy

CASTLEBERRY ISD curriculum and instruction leaders presented updates to the district's five‑year curriculum audit and outlined next yearʼs priorities, including new literacy investments supported by a state grant.

The update matters because the audit and the grant shape instructional materials, professional learning, and assessment choices across K–12 classrooms and will guide curriculum work that district leaders say they will revisit continually as assessments and standards change.

Scott Hutchings and Whitney Harper, TLI lead coordinators, told the board the presentation would focus on Standard 2 of the curriculum audit: ensuring "clear and valid objectives for students." Hutchings said the audit work produced a districtwide plan intended as a long‑range rollout to give every course guiding documents and resources. "We really needed more clarity, and refinement so we can ensure that teachers are able to do the internalization," he said, referring to teachers' ability to deliver lessons from robust guiding documents rather than building materials from scratch.

Leads described a district set of curriculum actions for fall 2025 and beyond. The district was awarded a Texas Reads Texas Leads (TXRL) grant to support early literacy in kindergarten through third grade; the district will strengthen the literacy block, revise guiding documents and hire literacy demonstration teachers (the presentation said three will be hired, with one funded by the TXRL grant). Hutchings and Harper said the district is moving toward instructional documents and professional learning that promote steady implementation and a cycle of review: drafting guiding documents, deep implementation and then ongoing revision in response to assessment data and new instructional resources.

The presentation noted ongoing adoption and revision choices in multiple content areas: Bluebonnet Learning and McGraw Hill materials for social studies, a structured K–12 writing alignment that will emphasize reading comprehension and constructed responses, STEMScopes for early math and science, and work on bilingual science instruction for fifth grade in Spanish. Leaders said they are aligning guiding documents with recent STAR release questions and other assessment evidence and will pursue additional grants (the presentation referenced a possible "facts on fire" grant to boost math fact fluency). Hutchings and Harper emphasized that the five‑year plan functions as a rollout framework but that documents will be updated as new standards and materials arrive.

The district also described supports for implementation and feedback loops. The Moody Foundation will provide coaching and three years of walk‑through feedback under the TXRL grant; the grant will include a showcase day for board members and others to view classroom practice and grant‑funded work.

Ending: Curriculum leaders said the work continues year by year; the board will see further updates and adoption items in coming months as the district refines guiding documents and incorporates grant supports into campus and classroom practice.