Higley board approves Amplify CKLA K–5 adoption after months-long review, staff to schedule training
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The Higley Unified School District board approved RFP 26-022-31 to adopt Amplify CKLA as the district's K'5 comprehensive ELA core at a cost of $1,302,022.40 over five years; staff says the program is MAUR-approved, includes embedded phonics and comes with vendor training and five years of digital access.
The Higley Unified School District governing board voted 5-0 to adopt Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) as the district's K'5 comprehensive ELA instructional material, approving RFP 26-022-31 at a total cost of $1,302,022.40 over five years.
Miss Davis, who led the yearlong adoption process, told the board the decision follows vendor presentations, a district review committee, steering committee rankings and a 60-day public review. "Our recommendation is CKLA by Amplify," she said, citing "strong stakeholder support," alignment to the science of reading and to state standards and the program's inclusion on the MAUR-approved list for use as a complete core.
Why it matters: The adoption replaces the district's current materials for K'5 and represents a significant upfront expenditure. Staff said the purchase is a one-time adoption cost that includes five years of digital access and vendor-provided professional learning slots designed to support implementation.
Board members and staff walked through implementation details and safeguards before the vote. Miss Davis described CKLA's embedded phonics for K'2 as "robust" and said the curriculum provides supports for English learners and students with IEPs. She also said the district will build a professional learning plan and use the 24 vendor-provided half-days of training in the first year for teacher onboarding.
Board members asked how the district would control or remove material outside the scope of state standards and whether the district or teachers could disable individual lessons. Miss Davis said "each grade level has one choice unit that we are able to swap out at the district level" and that the district can skip specific texts or use the digital library controls; she said the team will confirm the exact capabilities with the vendor once the adoption is approved.
A parent concern noted during the supplemental materials discussion emerged in the curriculum review: staff flagged a Spanish honors 4 textbook that included video clips in which profanity appears "once or twice" in one or two videos. Miss Davis said the committee recommended requiring a permission slip for those optional videos so they would not be shown without parental consent.
On assessment and monitoring, staff said the district's regular benchmark assessments and independent screeners will be used to track literacy outcomes. Miss Davis noted the district will also have access to the publisher's tests and that the district will review longitudinal benchmark data quarterly.
Board action and next steps: After the motion to approve the RFP and brief clarifying remarks from a member about protecting foundational skills time, the board approved the CKLA adoption 5-0. Staff will finalize vendor logistics, schedule professional learning and order materials so teachers receive the curriculum before the next school year where possible.
The district plans to monitor implementation and outcomes during the five-year adoption window and to issue a new RFP at the end of that term if the program does not meet expectations.