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Curriculum office outlines ELA resource review, phase guides and fall implementation timeline
Summary
Director of curriculum Kelly Downs and staff described summer work to create phase guides, start a sixth‑through‑tenth grade ELA resource review, train facilitators and PLC leaders, and begin teacher implementation training in August.
Kelly Downs, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction, updated the West Bend School District curriculum committee on Aug. 5 about summer curriculum work and plans for the coming school year.
Downs said the curriculum office has been developing standardized "phase guides" for professional-development facilitators so teams move through curriculum phases in a consistent way. "One of our big pieces has been developing phase guides for each one of these phases so that our facilitators will have a standardized process to move through and that we can guide them through in a consistent manner," she said.
Adrienne Schneider and Downs reported that the district’s sixth‑through‑tenth grade ELA team has begun phase‑one work and moved into a resource review (phase 2b). Downs said the team’s work mirrors a recent math resource review: teams will evaluate practices and resources and recommend materials with the goal of maximizing student proficiency. "We're hoping to then be able to kind of see it through, for the end of the school year to be able to be in implementation at this time next year," Downs said.
Staff said literacy specialists for middle and high school will meet later in August to ground ELA teachers in K–5 literacy practices so secondary instruction aligns with elementary foundations. Downs said PLC leaders will be trained, administrators briefed on roles, and that four days of teacher training are scheduled starting on the 11th (month implied by the committee’s August calendar).
Downs added that the department is organizing timelines so committees know which teams will present and when. The curriculum office also is consolidating prior curricular documents and the recently completed "I can" statements into a formal curriculum format for review as part of the phase work.
Committee members expressed support for the collaborative approach and asked staff to bring a year-long layout in September showing expected team presentations and deliverables. Staff said they will return with regular updates throughout the year.
