Tumwater leaders delay elementary ELA adoption, pilot new science curriculum districtwide

Tumwater School District staff told the board during a work session that they will delay recommending a full K–5 English language arts adoption until fall 2026 and will pilot a new elementary science curriculum across all elementary schools next year.

Andrea Kelly Batstone, director of secondary education, and Missy Hinkle, director of elementary education, led the curriculum update and described the timeline and rationale for both the ELA and science work.

The district’s elementary ELA pilot uses a program identified in the packet as Magnetic Literacy. Hinkle said the vendor notified staff that a fully revised version of Magnetic Literacy will be released in fall 2026. “The brand new version, the actual completely revised magnetic literacy for k through 5 comes out in fall of 20 26,” she said, and added that the vendor revisions addressed many of the pilot teachers’ concerns. Because of that timing, Hinkle said the district will continue the current pilot for one more year, keep most teachers in their existing Wonders materials for the coming year, add two or three additional pilot teachers to fill gaps, and plan for a full recommendation in fall 2026 after staff and teachers have time with the revised materials.

On secondary ELA, Batstone said the secondary pilot for CommonLit 360 is wrapping up and that all 35 of the district’s sixth- through 12th-grade ELA teachers participated. She told the board she expects to bring a request to adopt forward after the final teacher review meeting in mid-May and that she anticipates a presentation to the board in June and final approval in July. “I anticipate that after we meet on May 19 that I would, in June, bring the, request to adopt forward so that you could see the numbers,” Batstone said.

Both directors highlighted teacher feedback and professional learning. Batstone noted that CommonLit is issuing a second edition that incorporates some of the district’s feedback. Hinkle said the district plans to work with Curriculum Associates on professional learning and to give teachers access to the revised magnetic materials in January of the year before full adoption so they can build scope and sequence and pacing guides.

Science: staff recommended a districtwide elementary pilot of Mystery Science next year and said the product is substantially less expensive than the district’s current elementary science materials (listed in the packet as Carolina). “The cost is substantially lower, and and I do mean substantially lower,” a presenter said. The elementary review committee whittled options to Carolina (current) and Mystery Science and recommended piloting Mystery Science K–5 across all elementary schools to see whether it better meets classroom use for the cost. For middle school science the team is exploring OpenSCIED (an open resource) with the primary purchase cost limited to lab materials; Amplify remains the current middle school core and was described as substantially more expensive.

Directors and board members asked about budget impacts, parent review opportunities and state learning standards. Batstone said the district already has budgeted for the curriculum adoption cycle and that the transition to a fully digital secondary curriculum could generate material cost savings though additional technology and licensing costs remain. The directors said they will consider parent review nights for the revised elementary ELA materials before final recommendation.

Next steps: staff will continue pilots, collect teacher feedback, present secondary adoption materials after the mid-May secondary review, and plan to return to the board with a presentation in June and recommended action in July for secondary ELA. Elementary adoption for the revised Magnetic Literacy is on a later timeline tied to the vendor’s fall 2026 release.