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Board adopts OpenSciEd science and Illustrative Math elementary curricula and updates AP textbooks
Summary
After multi‑year pilots and teacher consensus meetings, trustees unanimously approved OpenSciEd for high school science, updated AP texts for psychology and statistics, and adopted Illustrative Mathematics for K–5, with district PD and demo access promised to teachers and families.
The Newport‑Mesa Unified School District board unanimously approved several curriculum adoptions aimed at aligning instruction across grade spans and updating materials.
Secondary science: Staff recommended adoption of the OpenSciEd three‑course, NGSS‑aligned high‑school science curriculum (biology, chemistry, physics with integrated earth and space science) after multi‑year pilots and teacher consensus using evaluation rubrics. The district will provide summer professional development, ongoing in‑unit support, and facilitator coaching to support implementation.
AP updates: The board also approved revised editions for Advanced Placement psychology (Myers) and AP statistics (Practice of Statistics) to ensure students have current materials for college‑level coursework.
Elementary math: Following a pilot with roughly 26 teachers and input from principals and pilot teachers, the adoption committee recommended Illustrative Mathematics (K–5) with the Imagine Learning digital platform (Imagine Math). Staff emphasized teacher training (including pre‑service demo accounts, an August launch and ongoing “Math Mondays”) and supplemental resources for fluency, centers and STEM extension tasks. Teachers who piloted the program described growth in student discourse and problem solving; trustees probed rollout timing, parent communication tools, and supports for students who join mid‑year. Staff said demo accounts and onboarding videos will be made available to all teachers after board approval.
Trustees expressed interest in parent‑facing resources that explain grade‑by‑grade standards and in robust training for teachers during the first year of implementation. The board’s votes on these adoptions were unanimous.
