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Board endorses pilot of Envision by Savvas for middle-and-high-school math
Summary
After an eight‑month review, the district's 6–12 math committee recommended piloting Envision by Savvas for grades 6–11 in 2025–26; the pilot includes professional development and a roughly $11,000 pilot fee, with a January follow‑up to decide on purchase.
The Alexandria Public School District’s math review team recommended unanimously that the district pilot Envision by Savvas for grades 6–11 during the 2025–26 school year.
Darcy Josephson, who led the curriculum review, said the committee used a research‑based evaluation rubric and examined four candidate resources; after presentations and rubric scoring the committee "unanimously decided that we would pilot one of the programs, and that program is Envision by Savvas." The pilot is slated to include summer and August training and ongoing support during the school year.
Josephson told the board the pilot fee is about $11,000 for the next year and that fee "includes all the consumables for the students" and online components integrated with the district’s Schoology platform. The committee recommended a district decision point in January after piloting the program to determine whether to adopt the curriculum for ongoing use.
Teachers on the review team said the committee emphasized a balanced approach: conceptual understanding, procedural fluency and real‑world application (described to the board as a three‑leg "stool"). Presenters stressed that Building Thinking Classrooms strategies and the new resource should complement each other and that strong teacher facilitation and professional development are essential to successful implementation.
Board members asked for follow‑up information on long‑term per‑student licensing costs and how the materials would affect device vs. consumable textbook usage; administration said those figures would be provided after the pilot. The pilot will allow teachers and students to use the resource as if it had been purchased, enabling full classroom implementation ahead of a January adoption decision.
Next steps: training begins in June and continues in August; the pilot runs during the 2025–26 school year; the math team will reconvene in January to report pilot findings and recommend whether to purchase Envision by Savvas.
