Riverside Local details curriculum rollouts and says state report card largely unchanged from last year

District staff briefed the Cardinal Programs Committee on curriculum adoptions, implementation checkpoints and preliminary district report‑card results.

Chris (district staff) presented a district overview of state report‑card outcomes and said the district’s overall scores are ‘‘almost identical’’ to last year. "Achievement is the score on every single state assessment that you take is it within 0.3 points," Chris said, noting gains in advanced scores and areas that require focus, including middle‑grade math and early literacy. He said value‑added progress data arrive later in the fall, which limits immediate deep‑dive analysis.

Discovery Education renewal: Staff flagged the annual renewal for Discovery Education, an online resource used K–12. The stated current quote is $29,700 per year, up about $8,000 from last year; removing professional‑development components reduces the increase to roughly $4,000. Staff said the contract would be paid from the general fund.

Wit and Wisdom (ELA) and Benchmark: Staff said teachers asked for stronger writing supports after the first year of Wit and Wisdom; Abby (instructional staff) is working with primary teachers to embed a more systematic writing progression and to align lessons so they fit classroom time. Staff reported the curriculum publisher recently released a pared‑down version that shortens lessons, matching teachers’ adjustments. Benchmark implementation is described as proceeding on schedule with regular checkpoints built in.

CPM math (middle grades): Staff described CPM’s ‘‘spiraling’’ approach and said it requires new teacher routines but is producing higher levels of student discussion and written math thinking. CPM currently covers sixth through eighth grades with plans to scale into high school; staff said teachers are receiving extra coaching and occasional release time to adapt to the program’s assessment style, which revisits earlier topics.

Technology and AI tools: The district has rolled out Google Classroom with a security‑focused upgrade (Google Plus) and adopted Magic School (an AI‑assisted platform) for classroom support. District staff described Magic School as well received by teachers and said the tool can evaluate student writing against rubrics; staff noted that state assessments also use automated scoring, so the district is developing teacher and student protocols for AI use.

Report card highlights and areas for growth: The district remains a four‑star district overall and reported strong graduation outcomes. Areas identified for focused improvement included fifth‑ and sixth‑grade math and early literacy (the district’s early‑literacy rating declined from four stars to three stars this cycle). Individual schools varied: staff reported Riverview rose to four stars, while some schools maintained 4.5‑star ratings on the district summary.

Staff said many implementation monitoring measures are in place, including monthly or six‑week checkpoints for curriculum teams, MAP and benchmark correlations, and coaching support from Abby and Sarah (MAP coach) to ensure consistent rollout and local adaptations where appropriate. No formal board votes on curriculum purchases were taken at the meeting; the Discovery Education renewal was placed on the committee agenda to alert members to the upcoming contract renewal and cost increase.