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Board approves five-year purchase of Amplify CKLA ELA curriculum after yearlong pilot and data review
Summary
After piloting multiple reading programs, the board approved a five-year contract for Amplify CKLA for ELA instruction, with K–2 phonics to be addressed via a separate skills program and ongoing progress monitoring and professional development.
The Berwick Area School District board voted to approve purchase of the Amplify CKLA English language arts curriculum under a five-year arrangement after administrators and teachers piloted multiple programs this year.
District staff said the curriculum was chosen because it aligns with the science of reading and provides a knowledge-based approach that integrates social studies and science content with vocabulary development. The district piloted UFLI (phonics) and two reading programs (Bookworms and Amplify CKLA) and concluded Amplify best met the district’s instructional goals, administrators said. For K–2 skills instruction the district will use a different program that staff said better supports small-group work and immediate remediation.
An unnamed district curriculum staff member described plans for implementation supports: robust professional development before and during the school year, weekly and monthly classroom progress monitoring, and quarterly districtwide progress checks. The staff member said the district will add low- or no-cost overlays to address writing practice where needed and will convene a teacher committee over the summer to personalize curricular pieces.
One board member urged caution about timing and suggested coordinating the purchase with the incoming superintendent so that new leadership would be aligned with a multi-year curricular commitment. Administrators said delaying a purchase would postpone delivery of teacher materials and could compress the timeline for teacher training ahead of the next school year. "Our teachers were adamant that we wanted to make sure that any curricular change ... was made in a timely manner," the curriculum staff member said.
After discussion, the board moved and seconded a motion to approve the purchase; the motion passed. Administrators said the vendor estimates a six- to eight-week shipping window but that local cases have arrived in about four weeks; staff said teachers can receive some online materials sooner if the purchase is finalized and the supplier releases digital access.
Administrators also said the state provided funding to expand pilot classrooms this spring because the program meets structured-literacy requirements.
The curriculum purchase was the most substantive academic-item discussion of the meeting and is intended to address reading achievement across elementary grades, administrators said.
