Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Curriculum Adoption topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cabell County staff recommend new K–12 social studies materials; 5-year costs to be voted
Summary
Instruction staff presented recommended K–12 social studies materials May 6, 2025, including teacher-created elementary kits, McGraw Hill middle-school resources and Cengage/National Geographic high-school texts; the board was told it will vote later on five-year adoption costs.
Cabell County Schools staff on May 6, 2025, recommended adoption of new K–12 social studies instructional materials and told the Board of Education that a vote on the five-year adoption costs will appear on a future agenda.
Kelly Watts, director of instruction and leadership services, told the board that elementary adoption committees recommended teacher-created materials delivered as classroom kits aligned to the West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards and integrating primary sources and student inquiry materials. The materials include hands-on kits, a Student Inquiry Handbook and resources intended to align with science-of-reading practices, Watts said.
For middle schools, academic specialists reported the committee selected McGraw-Hill materials for sixth and seventh grades — a package that includes ActiveLearn tools and Lexile-differentiated texts — and Gallipade curriculum for eighth grade West Virginia Studies. Watts said differentiation built into the selected middle-school products was a major factor for teachers because the materials can be filtered by Lexile levels and tied to MTSS interventions.
At the high-school level, committees recommended a mix of vendors aligned to course offerings: Cengage/National Geographic for World Studies and U.S. Studies, SABIS for American Government interactive materials, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for economics and geography, BFW for psychology, Cengage for sociology, and McGraw Hill for business law. The teams also identified texts for Advanced Placement courses to meet the state requirement that adopted materials must be at least 80% aligned to course standards.
Watts said each adoption team included teachers and academic specialists; Crystal Smith served as the elementary adoption facilitator. The presentation noted that some components are digital and some consumable, and that consumable items will require annual budgeting while digital license pricing is typically guaranteed through state adoption pricing. The superintendent’s office and finance staff are coordinating how to budget the five-year acquisition plan.
No final adoption vote was taken at the May 6 meeting; the board was told it would vote later on the five-year estimated cost and contract terms. Board members asked clarifying questions about where career-cluster instruction would be embedded after elimination of a standalone course; staff cited policy 25-10 and said career clusters will be embedded in appropriate content areas across grades.
The recommendation packet and sample materials were placed on display in the building hallway for board members and the public to review, per staff.
