Anne Arundel presents year‑one rollout of Amplify CKLA; district reports early DIBELS gains

The Anne Arundel County Board of Education on Tuesday received a year‑one update on the district’s implementation of Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA), the K–5 elementary literacy curriculum adopted this year. District staff said CKLA’s skills (phonics/decoding) and knowledge (background, vocabulary, comprehension) strands were being taught in daily blocks, DIBELS screening was embedded as the universal screener, and kindergarten students showed the largest mid‑year gains on DIBELS composite measures.

Why it matters: Board and central‑office presenters framed the rollout as part of the district’s move to the science of reading and to meeting state expectations (including requirements tied to the Ready to Read Act). Officials said consistent classroom practice, targeted professional learning and family engagement are central to raising reading outcomes by grade 2 and reducing instructional gaps as students advance.

Christina Catalano, chief academic officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, described implementation goals and how staff are defining “integrity” for CKLA instruction—“a balance of fidelity and flexibility” that keeps grade‑level curriculum and sequencing while allowing data‑driven adjustments. She said the district prioritized foundational implementation in year 1 and used a walkthrough tool to observe curriculum use across five categories: instructional resources, instructional delivery, engagement, pacing/coherence and physical space. “We truly prioritized foundational implementation. We wanted to start small to grow,” Catalano said.

Michelle Batten, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment, and Amanda Salveron, director of elementary core subjects, walked the board through the program model. Staff said CKLA separates daily skills and knowledge lessons in grades K–2, follows a “sounds‑first” approach to phonics, and teaches 44 phonemes, roughly 150 common spellings and the basic 26 letters as part of the “basic code.” The skills block was described as a planned, systematic 60‑minute lesson in early grades; the knowledge block uses rich, above‑level read‑alouds, vocabulary instruction and text‑based discussion.

District staff said DIBELS (the district referred to it as MCAS DIBELS in the presentation) is embedded in CKLA as the universal screener and progress‑monitoring tool. Staff explained the dashboard color coding shown to the board—red (well below benchmark), yellow (below benchmark), green (at benchmark) and blue (above benchmark)—and said kindergarten composite scores showed the largest shift from red/yellow into green/blue between the beginning and middle of the year. Catalano said the kindergarten gains are consistent with the cohort’s being the first group to receive the full science‑of‑reading foundation through CKLA in this rollout.

Staff also summarized supports for implementation: district and school‑level professional learning (including four equity‑focused modules developed with the Office of Equity), in‑school coaching and job‑embedded family engagement nights run with Title I and community‑school staff. The district said principals, teacher leaders, coaches and central‑office staff have completed “hundreds” of classroom observations using the walkthrough tool; staff described the tool as a diagnostic instrument to inform professional learning and coaching rather than a punitive evaluation.

Board members asked for more detail on several topics. Several requested information on how progress is measured beyond DIBELS; Catalano said the district uses quarterly district assessments and Ready diagnostics (beginning/middle/end of year) in addition to DIBELS. Members asked how writing is measured; staff said writing is embedded in CKLA and assessed through curriculum‑embedded performance measures. Board members raised concerns about students who have already progressed past grade 5 and may have decoding gaps; staff said a cross‑functional review of tier‑2 and tier‑3 interventions for middle school students is underway and that i‑Ready is used as a screener in grades 6–8 to identify gaps.

Several trustees pressed on schedule and time‑allocation questions, noting both CKLA and the district’s adopted Reveal math have time requirements. Catalano and other presenters said the district has a cross‑functional group reviewing elementary scheduling and that additional instructional minutes are possible pending board and contract negotiations and any state guidance tied to recently passed legislation.

In a short video of school examples, principals, teachers and students described end‑of‑unit culminating activities (performances, projects and presentations). Fifth graders from Pasadena Elementary spoke directly: one student said reading Don Quixote was an engaging adventure; another said writing poetry offered a new way to express themselves. Staff noted dual‑language classrooms use a matched program (named Kominos in the presentation) aligned to CKLA and that English language development teachers use CKLA‑aligned resources and push‑in/co‑teaching models where appropriate.

Next steps described to the board included continued professional learning to move schools from foundational implementation toward full operation and innovation over years 2–6, continued DIBELS screening to target interventions, and a district task force to study middle‑school programming so that gains at the elementary level are preserved and extended into later grades. Superintendent Dr. Bedell told the board a middle‑school redesign is a major district focus and will take time and cross‑departmental work to complete.

The presentation did not include any formal motions or votes. Staff provided data visualizations and examples of classroom practice, and board members asked for follow‑up materials on writing measures, intervention pathways for older students, and possible adjustments to elementary instructional minutes.

Looking ahead, staff said the district will refine coaching and lesson‑internalization supports, continue family engagement events and align screener data to targeted tier‑2 and tier‑3 supports as part of multi‑year implementation planning.