The Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21 Board of Education approved the adoption of the Desmos elementary math curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the board’s consent agenda at its April 24 meeting.

District math director Carolyn Droll told the board the selection followed a year-long review of available elementary math programs, narrowing an initial list to three choices and then piloting the recommended resource, Amplify Desmos. About 90 teachers initially volunteered for the pilot; roughly half continued using the resource through the rest of the school year.

Droll said the committee selected Desmos for its emphasis on student collaboration, classroom discourse and problem solving, and because the resource embeds language and content objectives, vocabulary supports and formative assessment within lessons. She showed examples of classroom activities designed as “low floor, high ceiling” tasks that allow multiple entry points for students and encourage multiple solution strategies.

Students in pilot focus groups reported positive reactions. Droll quoted elementary students saying the lessons “trick your mind into thinking it’s a normal game” and that the content “is not that hard… also not that easy — it’s perfect.” Teachers provided survey feedback that highlighted strengths in engagement and conceptual understanding and identified differentiation and accessibility for multilingual learners as continuing support needs.

Staff described supports that will be used during implementation: summer and ongoing professional development for teachers, family-facing materials via the Desmos Caregiver Hub, and curriculum and assessment alignment work. The district said it will not sign a contract longer than three years without further consideration.

The adoption was approved as part of the consent agenda; the consent motion and roll-call vote carried. Board members asked staff to develop an explicit communication plan for families — including in-person, building-level meetings and teacher communications — to explain the new instructional model and caregiver resources.

No changes to district learning standards were recorded; staff said curriculum documents and assessments will be revised to align to the new resource and that further updates will be provided to the board.