White Plains reviews 2025–26 curriculum, pilots two ELA cores and proposes new high‑school courses

The White Plains City School District presented its proposed curriculum and instruction plan for the 2025–26 school year, highlighting resource alignments, planned pilots for a new K–5 ELA core, sustained rollout of Science 21, adoption of NWEA for universal screening, and additions to the high‑school course catalog.

The district said it will pilot two ELA core resources in K–5 classrooms — EL Education and Great Minds Arts & Letters — using a committee of roughly 40 teachers, coaches, parents and administrators. Staff said the pilot work will be followed by a recommendation for a single Tier‑1 ELA core resource and aligned professional learning for teachers.

In early childhood and elementary work, the budget relies on three pre‑K grants (including a Universal Pre‑K grant and an expansion grant) to fund 302 pre‑K seats across 21 classes. The district reported a goal of curriculum alignment between pre‑K and kindergarten, use of Heggerty phonemic awareness materials, Wilson Fundations, and a dual‑language initiative that uses interim assessments (STAMP) to measure Spanish proficiency for English‑speaking students participating in the program.

On assessment and MTSS, the district reported adopting NWEA as a universal screening tool and continuing refinement of MTSS structures after a 2022 review. Curriculum staff emphasized the importance of strong Tier‑1 instruction and universal design for learning (UDL) to reduce downstream referrals to special education — a point that the PCG special education review also raised.

High‑school changes and course additions proposed for 2025–26 include introduction to robotics (half‑year), introduction to dance (new 0.4 FTE initially; grades 9–12), a restructured intermediate ceramics sequence, climate change and national hazards (modular), financial literacy (grade 12), introduction to business law, and Project Lead The Way environmental sustainability. The district also described schedule and master‑schedule reviews to create more intervention and extension time for students and noted that Regents updates at the state level are prompting curricular adjustments.

Special‑education capacity planning was included in the presentation: the district plans to add a 12:1:2 preschool classroom for students with autism and developmental delays next year, with staffing needs cited as 1 teacher, 2 teaching assistants and a 0.5 speech teacher drawn from existing personnel.

District staff emphasized that most items described are budget‑neutral within the curriculum budget through reallocation and leveraging grant funds. Trustees asked for clarifications about student awareness of diploma endorsements (Seal of Biliteracy; Seal of Civic Readiness); presenters said students begin accruing points for those endorsements as early as seventh grade through embedded curricular milestones.

What’s next: staff will continue pilot work, finalize recommendations for core ELA adoption with associated professional learning, complete middle‑school program reviews and master‑schedule work, and include the proposed preschool special‑education classroom in next year’s staffing plan.