Cheltenham staff outline shift to new STEALS science standards, timeline for tests and resource selection

Dr. Riley presented the district’s plan to implement Pennsylvania’s new K–12 science framework — described in the briefing as “STEALS” — and told the board the district will begin full implementation next school year while using this year as a field year for new, scenario-based items on statewide tests.

Dr. Riley, who led the presentation, said: "STEALS stands for science, technology and engineering, environmental literacy and sustainability," and explained that the framework reconfigures some content while keeping the core domains (earth and space, life science and physical science). He told the board the approach emphasizes phenomena-based instruction and three-dimensional learning (science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas and cross-cutting concepts) so students “figure things out” through investigations rather than learning by rote.

The discussion matter-of-factly linked instruction to assessment. Dr. Riley said the district will see scenario-based items on tests this year and that the move of the PSSA to fifth grade in the new schedule is a baseline year: "There’s only accountability for participation. There’s no accountability for performance this year," he said, adding that full accountability for reported performance begins next year. He also noted that biology testing will remain aligned to the older standards for one more cycle, which may produce differences for semester-based courses.

On curriculum and resources, Miss Borrero described work to translate the standards into K–5 units using Understanding by Design: teams of teachers unpacked performance expectations, mapped objectives and piloted units; the district intends to unpack units with all K–5 teachers at a May 20 session. District staff also described a stakeholder-driven resource-selection process facilitated by SchoolKit: teachers, administrators, parents and community members developed evaluation criteria, have run mock reviews and expect to finalize recommendations at an upcoming meeting later in the month.

Dr. Riley said Montgomery County intermediate and professional organizations have supported the district’s professional development: the MCIU has offered multiple trainings, the district has sent teacher-leaders to engineering and assessment sessions and staff attended NSTA. The district also runs a local STEALS Expo; staff said the expo helps districts and teachers share implementations of the new approaches.

On program structure, the presentation proposed dedicated STEM teachers in elementary grades and dedicated teachers for gifted services instead of the prior “challenge” consultant model; that change is contingent on school-configuration decisions tied to Elkins Park and Cedarbrook construction timelines. The presenters said service levels for GIEP students will remain the same, though teacher schedules will change.

Board members asked several substantive questions: whether the district is inventorying and reusing existing kits (staff said they are cataloging materials and will repurpose usable items), what local discretion exists if state standards evolve (Dr. Riley summarized the state adoption history and said the district retains control over selecting phenomena and local curriculum resources), how universal screeners (BRIDGE) and classroom diagnostics (CDT) will be used (BRIDGE will screen all students and flag those needing deeper diagnostics; CDTs will be updated to align to the new standards), and whether IEPs/GIEPs will be affected (staff said IEPs remain individualized and are not tied to the standards per se).

The board chair then opened the meeting for public comment and thanked presenters. No formal policy votes or adoptions of new curriculum materials were recorded during the presentation; the minutes approval earlier in the meeting passed by voice vote (counts not specified).