Board agrees to advance Cognity and InQuizitive science resources to July for final approval

Wicomico County Public Schools staff presented results from pilot studies of two science instructional resources and the board consented to advance both to the July meeting for final approval.

Hema Baskaran, who led the pilot presentations, described Cognity as an online, standards‑aligned core instructional platform designed for high school environmental science. She said Cognity supports formative and summative assessments, teacher slide decks, downloadable handouts, integration with Kahoot and built‑in language supports in more than 130 languages (Spanish is a direct translation). “One of the things that Cognity is still working on is … hands on components,” Baskaran said; staff said Cognity committed to adding two to three hands‑on labs per unit by the August rollout.

Staff reported Cognity pilot feedback from eight teachers and 138 students: about two‑thirds of pilot teachers rated Cognity positively and roughly 59% of responding students said they liked Cognity; staff cautioned responses were limited because not all classes completed the survey. The district proposed licensing 500 student seats, using re‑use of seats to cover higher enrollment, at a per‑student annual cost of $18; staff estimated a seven‑year average cost of about $70,000, including $4,500 for professional development.

The board asked several questions about online versus hands‑on time, expectations for teacher lab notebooks, translation quality, and implementation timing. Staff said teachers will be trained during scheduled professional development days including the August PD day.

District staff also presented InQuizitive, a supplemental science resource proposed for sheltered and self‑contained classrooms to meet accessibility and differentiated learning needs. Staff piloted InQuizitive with about 20 teachers (10 used it in class); the product is sold as individual teacher subscriptions at $50 per teacher per year and the district would not pursue school‑level licensing. Staff said InQuizitive is not yet used by other Maryland districts; the board agreed to advance InQuizitive to the July meeting for approval as a supplemental resource for supported classrooms.

Board members asked staff to expect follow‑up questions at the July meeting; staff said they would provide implementation plans, PD timelines and usage and assessment monitoring plans.