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Resident asks board for evidence that ELA pilot programs align with science of reading
Summary
During public comment, resident Mandy Jubilee urged the board to require clear, component-level evidence showing how two piloted ELA programs align with the science of reading after she said literacy gains declined in grades 3–5.
Mandy Jubilee of 110 Cameron Drive addressed the board during the public-comment portion of the Feb. 24 meeting, urging the district to provide more detailed evidence that two piloted English language arts programs align with the science of reading.
Jubilee said district presenters at an Educational Affairs meeting on Feb. 5 highlighted literacy gains in kindergarten through second grade but declines in grades three through five. “My daughters in fifth and seventh grade have never nor will they ever now receive core instruction in ELA that is systematic and explicit,” she said, criticizing the district's staged approach to change and arguing that focusing on only part of the elementary population left older students behind.
She told the board that one pilot program is not yet published and that the other declined independent third-party review. Jubilee asked the board to “demand to see how both of these programs are aligned to the science of reading” and asked district staff to spell out which components are aligned and how alignment is determined.
Jubilee said she and other families had met with district staff but were given only short statements from publishers asserting alignment. She asked the board for greater transparency at the next Educational Affairs meeting and said the district should present component-level alignment evidence and efficacy data.
