Monticello district recommends CommonLit for grades 6–8 after yearlong pilot
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Summary
District staff recommended adopting the CommonLit 360 curriculum for sixth through eighth grade language arts after multi‑year pilots and classroom trials, citing improved writing outcomes and alignment to state standards. The recommendation will move to implementation planning; the board did not take a final adoption vote at the May 5 meeting.
Monticello Public School District staff recommended adopting the CommonLit 360 English language arts curriculum for grades six through eight after a series of pilots and classroom evaluations.
District literacy lead Kristen Hall, director of teaching and learning Cindy Foshing, middle school principal Jeff Sherber and sixth‑grade ELA teacher Nathan (Nate) Russell presented the recommendation at the May 5 school board meeting. Russell said the program “freed us up to be able to do some of those other soft skills” and noted pilots that included fiction and informational units.
Staff told the board the review began in 2022 with several programs evaluated, including Amplify and others. After a 2024 pilot of Amplify produced instructional concerns, teachers ran additional pilots and then piloted CommonLit in the fall and again on a second unit. Russell said teachers observed an immediate increase in writing expectations and output and that students connected curriculum tasks to science classrooms through shared emphasis on claim‑evidence‑reasoning.
Russell described CommonLit’s features the committee found valuable: scaffolds for writing, digital and print balance, thematic vertical alignment across grades 6–8, formative skills assessments and teacher resources that the district said align with Minnesota ELA standards. He showed sixth‑grade student work the taskforce used to evaluate whether the curriculum fosters synthesis and production, not only comprehension. Russell quoted an education maxim he said grounded the group: “children grow into the intellectual life around them.”
Board members asked about maintaining books in students’ hands, novel units outside CommonLit, and local control over novel selections. Russell and Hall said the plan retains at least one book‑based unit per year and that teachers and administrators will continue to vet texts for appropriateness.
The presentation included EdReports results (CommonLit scored “meets expectations” in major categories, staff said) and cost comparisons with other vendors. Staff described CommonLit as cost‑effective but emphasized pedagogical fit over price during their selection process.
No formal adoption vote was recorded at the meeting; the curriculum committee and administration presented the recommendation and outlined next steps for teacher training and rollout planning. Board members commended the vetting and piloting process and the plan for professional development tied to implementation.
Staff said they will return with an implementation plan and timeline for training and curriculum mapping prior to any final adoption action by the board.
