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Holliston committee hears plan for elementary ELA curriculum review and new standards-based report card
Summary
District curriculum staff outlined a multi-year review of elementary English-language arts materials, a plan to pilot new materials, and a standards-based report card tied to performance indicators and transfer tasks. The district will seek DESE grant funding to support materials and professional development.
Holliston Public Schools curriculum staff told the school committee on May 1 they have completed a gap analysis for elementary ELA and will proceed to pilot and review sample materials after teacher and community input.
The district's curriculum review team includes teachers from every grade and program. Staff described a multi-step process: visioning and gap analysis, review of candidate materials (using CURATE/ED evaluation tools), conversations with nearby districts that recently completed reviews, and participation in DESE's Implement Network for guidance on adoption and PD.
Ilsa and Jenny (curriculum specialists) said the team will apply for a DESE grant next week to help fund materials and professional development regardless of the final adoption path. "We wanted to do this thoughtfully and carefully," a curriculum specialist said; the district plans parent forums and website materials to explain any change.
Separately, staff described work on a new Standards-Based Report on Student Progress (ROSP) that will replace older report-card language. The report-card committee has drafted grade-level standards and SEL competencies (using CASEL frameworks) and has been meeting with grade-level teams to refine performance indicators and plain-language rubrics.
Curriculum coordinator Krista Marino and other presenters said the district will provide teacher training on Understanding by Design (UbD) next fall and will produce mock-ups of the new report card for teacher feedback, with the goal of implementation in the 2025''26 school year.
District leaders said that stage-1 curriculum maps for elementary math are already complete; ELA materials and report-card changes will be piloted with teacher input, and the administration will present parent-facing material and videos online to explain changes.
Ending: Staff asked the committee to support the DESE grant application and the phased pilot and parent-engagement timeline; no vote was taken at the May 1 meeting.
