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Brainerd board adopts new 9–12 ELA curriculum and one-year CommonLit package
Summary
The Brainerd School Board approved a new 9–12 English language arts curriculum and a one-year paid CommonLit access including assessments and professional development, at a cost the presenters said would be about $6,500 for one year.
The Brainerd School Board on Tuesday approved a new 9–12 English language arts curriculum and a one-year paid subscription to CommonLit, a web-based instructional resource the district will pilot for assessment and professional development.
Curriculum presenters said the work was intended to align instruction with the Minnesota ELA 2020 standards and to increase student choice, discussion-based learning and inclusion of multiple perspectives. "Our vision of the high school English department is to create critical thinkers," said Carla Shepherd Johnson, a Brainerd High School teacher, during the presentation.
The curriculum team described a condensed review process this year and recommended CommonLit after reviewing several open educational resources and talking with other districts. Alan Hewitt, a teacher who helped lead the review, told the board that the district would buy one year of expanded access to CommonLit so staff could use the platform’s cold-read assessments and data dashboards. "That 1 time, that 1 year access is enough to kind of see what's there," Hewitt said. The presenters said the one-year quote was about $6,500; district staff described the feature set as including assessments, a data dashboard and professional development.
Board members asked how CommonLit aligns to Minnesota standards and whether the district would continue to use paper texts where appropriate. Alice Cornia, the district’s K–12 literacy and humanities coordinator, said CommonLit provides alignment indicators to state standards and that paper copies would still be available when appropriate. Board members emphasized accountability and said they expected staff to evaluate the effect of the new curriculum on student outcomes.
Director Brecken moved adoption of the curriculum and the accompanying digital access; Director Edmond seconded. The motion carried.
The district will budget the one-year CommonLit access for next school year; presenters said some CommonLit features (such as multi-language display) are available in the free tier but the district wants the paid assessment and data features for the pilot year.
The board’s action covers the districtwide scope of the 9–12 ELA sequence; staff said they will return in future meetings with implementation details and student assessment results for board review.
