The Pacific Grove Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously May 15 to adopt three instructional programs for the 2025–26 school year: EL Education K–5 language arts, the California Board of Education ethnic studies curriculum for high school, and Castro & Huber’s Marine Science (3rd ed.).

Teachers and department leads who piloted the materials told the board the selections stemmed from multi‑year reviews, classroom pilots and community input. “The program teaches standards explicitly and clearly while also building opportunities to offer remediation and enrichment every day,” said Anna Darnell, a second‑grade teacher who co‑led the EL Education pilot.

The vote follows two months of review and classroom trials. The district’s elementary pilot team reported that EL Education produced measurable gains in early reading fluency and deeper student discussions in K–5 classrooms; pilot teachers said students showed higher growth on DIBELS measures after a trimester with the curriculum. At the high school, teachers said Castro & Huber’s Marine Science text best matched the department’s expectations for current content and local relevance to Monterey Bay. The ethnic studies proposal — assembled with community partners and reviewed by a teacher team — will form the basis of a new elective to be offered in 2025–26 that local staff described as aligned to the state framework and focused on regional history and cultures.

Board members asked questions about rollout and teacher training. The district said adoption will be followed by summer and early‑fall professional learning, grade‑level planning time, and additional materials purchases. “We will work with sites and teachers to phase implementation and provide coaching,” Executive Director of Educational Services Larry Hadquist said.

The board recorded a 5–0 roll‑call vote in favor of adoption. Superintendent Linda Adamson and curriculum leads said pilots will continue into summer so that teachers can align lesson sequences across sites. Families should expect more information on classroom materials, parent resources and how the district will support students during the transition.

Implementation timeline: teachers will receive training this summer; sites will schedule grade‑level rollout and family information sessions before fall 2025.

The board will receive implementation updates and initial student outcome data during the 2025–26 year.