The Northport-East Northport Board of Education heard a recommendation Nov. 21 to adopt Amplify CKLA as the district’s K–5 comprehensive literacy program following a yearlong pilot and extensive teacher training.

Tara Geis, who led the elementary curriculum committee, said the committee used the science of reading as its guiding framework, relied on independent reviews (Reading League, EdReports) and surveyed piloting teachers to compare two finalist programs. Geis said the district trained roughly 84 teachers in LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) and ran a criterion-based pilot that prioritized listening comprehension, speech-to-print phonics, coherent scope-and-sequence, interdisciplinary opportunities and equitable access to high-level text.

Geis summarized classroom reports from pilot teachers and specialists, saying the piloted CKLA materials emphasized speech-to-print instruction and embedded adaptive assessments that helped teachers differentiate instruction. “We would like to recommend that Amplify CKLA be adopted by the board as the K–5 comprehensive literacy program,” she said during the presentation.

Trustees asked detailed questions about data sources, continuity across grades, supports for teachers and costs. Geis said the district used i-Ready baseline data plus targeted, program-aligned assessments from the pilot classrooms; she described plans to integrate additional assessments into EduCLIMBER once the system is fully operational. She said the vendor will provide the district’s current piloting classrooms with the third edition at no cost. District figures presented in the meeting packet estimated materials at about $113 per student in year one and $32 per student in year two for CKLA (the alternate program’s presented estimate was about $175 in year one and $49.52 in year two). Geis described a rolling professional-development plan from January through June followed by on-site coaching in 2025–26 and said a district rollout would likely take three to five years to reach full stability.

Board members pressed implementation details: how the program would serve pre-K students, whether the program recommends flexible groupings or fixed tracking, how new hires without science-of-reading training would be supported, and how to compare outcomes when the alternate program uses different assessment approaches. Geis answered that CKLA includes a pre-K strand and that the district would partner with universal pre-K; she emphasized a collaborative, phased training model and said the committee’s criterion-based review had ranked CKLA higher on the district’s stated priorities.

No formal board vote on the CKLA adoption occurred at the Nov. 21 meeting. The administration said it will bring a formal adoption request and additional comparative data to the next board meeting (scheduled Dec. 12).