EPR committee advances high‑school science curriculum and recommends $306,000 in textbook purchases

The East Stroudsburg Area School District Education Policy & Review (EPR) advisory committee voted to move a revised high‑school science curriculum to the full Board of Education and recommended purchasing three textbook packages to align with that curriculum.

The committee agreed to forward 24 new or revised science course curricula — supported by 14 different textbooks — while asking staff to make a set of clarifications and corrections before the full board review. Committee member discussion singled out alignment between biology objectives and Keystone Biology eligible content and inconsistencies in course level labels and pacing for several electives.

Heather (Curriculum staff) told the committee that she had revised biology language to make clear "the objectives in this curriculum directly correspond to the eligible content that's present on the Keystone biology test." She also said the objective column will list the eligible content code (EC) behind each objective for future Keystone‑ and PSSA‑tested courses. The committee discussed examples including the introduction to engineering course, which the materials list as applied but in one place carries a college‑prep weight of 1.25; members asked staff to confirm leveling in the program of studies before the board vote.

Committee members also raised formatting and pacing issues: missing table-of-contents entries, unit pagination gaps, and semester day allocations that did not add up in a few course documents. Staff said some discrepancies were likely caused by automated table‑of‑contents generation and agreed to review and correct those items before the curriculum goes to the full board.

After discussion, the committee voted to recommend that the full board approve the science course curriculum with the requested modifications. The advisory committee then moved three textbook purchase recommendations aligned with the same curriculum: - McGraw Hill high school science texts — $205,037.15 (general fund) - Pearson high school science texts — $77,745.00 plus 10% shipping ($7,774.50) (general fund) - Savvas high school science texts — $23,263.62 (general fund)

Staff explained the purchases would be funded from a carve‑out in the general fund established for new initiatives rather than from the curriculum department operating budget. The committee recorded the motion to recommend purchase and indicated staff will finalize the documented edits and confirm course weights before the full Board of Education takes action.

Next steps: staff will make the requested edits, verify course‑level weights in the program of studies, and bring the curriculum and purchasing recommendations to the full board for approval.