Pickens County board adopts new K–5 i-Ready math curriculum, approves secondary texts

The Pickens County Board of Trustees voted March 6 to adopt a new, districtwide set of math textbooks, approving i-Ready Classroom Mathematics for kindergarten through fifth grade and a package of Savvas, BW Walsh and Bedford, Freeman & Worth titles for middle- and high-school courses.

The adoption follows a state-led review and a local review process: publishers submitted materials to the state, review panels evaluated them last year, and teachers and district instructional coaches completed rubrics and school-level feedback before the board vote. Shannon Sharkey, the district’s curriculum presenter, described the selection as a comprehensive adoption covering K–12 math.

Sharkey told the board the materials were evaluated through a multi-step process: publisher bids, a review panel orientation and presentations in 2024, teacher review teams at school sites, textbook caravans, and a public review window from Jan. 8 to March 7. “This is comprehensive, and it will be for all math K through twelfth grade,” Sharkey said during the presentation.

For elementary grades K–5 the board approved i-Ready Classroom Mathematics. Sharkey said teachers praised i-Ready’s alignment with the district’s i-Ready diagnostics, structured lesson progression, scaffolded lessons, hands-on supports and integrated data and assessment tools. “It had great structured lesson progression that really encouraged students to explore, develop, and refine their math skills,” Sharkey said.

For grades 6–8 the district selected Envision Math (Savvas Learning Company), which the presenter said offered project-based learning units, embedded Desmos activities, AI lesson-planning tools and translation features. Geometry on the honors pathway at the middle-school level will use Envision Geometry (Savvas); the same Envision Geometry book was recommended for high-school geometry to maintain alignment across grades.

High-school course adoptions included a mix: South Carolina College and Career Ready Mathematics (BW Walsh) for Algebra I (college-prep) and Algebra II (college-prep); Envision (Savvas) versions for Algebra I Honors and Algebra II Honors; Sullivan’s Precalculus Enhanced with Graphing Utilities (Savvas) for precalculus; Bedford, Freeman & Worth AP Calculus for AP Calculus and calculus honors; McGraw Hill statistics texts for statistical modeling and AP Statistics; and BW Walsh materials for the new Applications and Modeling course. Sharkey said many secondary choices were selected for alignment with the district’s updated 2024 standards and for built-in supports for multilingual learners and tiered intervention.

Board members asked about alignment across grade spans and professional development. Sharkey confirmed i-Ready will continue as the district’s formative assessment system for grades 6–8 even though Envision will be the core middle-school curriculum, and she described a district plan to use district math coaches and lead teachers for implementation supports. She also described the Palmetto Math project as a state-targeted coaching effort for lower-performing schools rather than a universal curriculum-forcing initiative.

A roll-call vote approved the curriculum adoption: Dr. Bagley — yes; Mr. Dover — yes; Mrs. Garrison — yes; Mrs. Kelly — yes; Mrs. Williams — yes; board chair (presiding) — yes. The motion passed unanimously.

The board will proceed with ordering materials upon finalization of purchase logistics and planned professional development to support rollout.