Sharon schools recommend CKLA after multi‑month elementary ELA pilot

Sharon Public Schools officials recommended adopting Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) as the district’s elementary English language arts curriculum following a multi‑year review and fall 2024 pilot, administrators said Thursday.

District leaders told the School Committee they chose CKLA after a committee of teachers and administrators piloted three programs—CKLA, Wit & Wisdom and MyView—collected classroom, family and student feedback and visited neighboring districts using the two finalist programs. Administrators said CKLA scored higher across user‑experience, pacing, and engagement metrics and that the program meets state curriculum standards and contains supports for students with disabilities and English learners.

The presentation traced the review to a 2017 curriculum adoption and three goals the district set for new materials: alignment to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, use of empirically validated reading instruction (including phonics and phonemic awareness), and built‑in supports for culturally responsive instruction, English learners and students with special needs. Sarah Klim, elementary curriculum coordinator, and Dr. Jocelyn (presenting for Superintendent Patel) described the committee process, teacher training, classroom walkthroughs and stakeholder surveys that led to the recommendation.

Pilot results cited by administrators showed: 83% of CKLA pilot teachers rated student engagement as “high,” compared with 33% for Wit & Wisdom; parent and student surveys favored CKLA on multiple measures; and kindergarten classrooms piloting CKLA reported earlier decoding progress. The district said CKLA’s skills component uses a sound‑based approach and includes decodable readers aligned to skills instruction; CKLA’s knowledge units are designed to build background across grades.

Administrators noted CKLA is published by Amplify and that the series earned “meets or exceeds expectations” ratings from external reviewers such as EdReports and the Reading League curriculum navigation materials, which the presentation said contributed to confidence in the choice. Staff also noted Amplify will publish a third edition this summer; Sharon’s pilot used second‑edition materials and the district plans to order third‑edition materials when available.

Superintendent‑level staff described implementation next steps: continued piloting for the remainder of the school year, staff professional development sessions this spring, training for instructional assistants and full district implementation scheduled for September 2025. The district said it will send a letter to families, add website updates and offer additional family information sessions by grade band.

Questions from committee members focused on cost comparisons, assessment alignment and screening tools. Administrators said the district will continue to use STAR 360 as its approved universal screener this year to meet state early‑literacy screening regulations, and that cost differences between purchasing CKLA and purchasing a combination of Wit & Wisdom plus separate foundational skills materials (e.g., Foundations and Heggerty) were “very comparable” when all parts were included.

Committee members and pilot teachers who spoke during the meeting praised the pilot work and teacher engagement. No formal adoption vote occurred at the January 22 meeting; the presentation was a recommendation and described planned training and family outreach ahead of full implementation in September.

The committee asked administrators to provide final cost and training schedules as implementation details are finalized.

Implementation details and next steps include continued pilot through spring 2025, district training days for teachers and instructional assistants, family outreach sessions, and full implementation for the K–5 academic year beginning September 2025.