Perkiomen Valley to pilot Waggle reading program and two science curricula in middle schools

District instructional leaders described two sets of pilots for middle-school programs and asked the committee to allow pilots and report findings to the board. The middle-school science team said it identified two resources from three vendor presentations (named in the transcript as "SILENT" and "Kessler Science") and will pilot one unit per resource from February through April, then recommend a single resource to the board in April.

On reading comprehension, the team proposed piloting Waggle, an adaptive online English-language-arts platform, for approximately 40 students across both middle schools whose diagnostic assessments show reading-comprehension concerns but adequate decoding. "For the pilot, there's no financial cost to the district," the presenter said. If the district chooses to adopt Waggle beyond the pilot, the presenter said it would cost approximately $20 per student (roughly $800 for 40 students) as a supplemental resource aligned to the Into Literature curriculum.

Committee members asked operational questions (timing during INE/enrichment period, assessment leveling, audio-read options for auditory learners). Administrators confirmed the pilot would run in the same semester, include teacher feedback and data collection, and that the district would place the pilot on the February board agenda for review. The committee approved moving both pilots forward and asked staff to report back with pilot data and a recommendation for board action.