Boyertown Area SD begins ELA curriculum review to meet Act 135, schedules vendor demos and teacher pilots

The Boyertown Area School District's Student Services and Curriculum Committee on May 11 heard an overview of the district's ELA curriculum review and steps to align materials and instruction with Act 135 and the science of reading.

Stephanie Petrie, director of the Office of Teaching and Learning, told the committee that Act 135 requires each local education agency to adopt an evidence-based reading curriculum, identify a lead educator for implementation, provide structured-literacy professional learning and select a universal K'3 screener administered three times each year. "Each LEA must adopt an evidence-based reading curriculum," Petrie said, and districts must "submit annual reports to PDE." (Petrie's remarks appear in committee materials.)

Petrie described the review as a multi-year process. Year 1 focuses on auditing current pacing guides and curricula against Pennsylvania state standards and the science of reading to ensure horizontal and vertical alignment K'12. She said roughly 50 teachers and coaches began the curriculum-review team Feb. 13; staff will continue meetings (March 11 referenced in materials) and use the Pennsylvania Department of Education's "Digging Deeper" guide to structure teacher audits.

A district professional learning day on May 1 will let teams synthesize teacher feedback from the Digging Deeper audit; Petrie said those results will inform questions for vendors and help identify priority areas for instructional supports. "On June 8 the team will be developing questions for the vendors," she said, and staff will invite vendors to demonstrations and Q&A on June 9 so teachers can inspect materials and ask about professional development.

Petrie said a limited pilot of vendor resources is planned for the 2025-26 school year; the district intends to use pilot data and observations to finalize a resource for districtwide implementation in the 2027-28 school year, with continuous professional learning throughout the pilot and implementation years to support fidelity.

Committee members asked whether vendor packages include diagnostic tools and how vendors' assessments will compare with existing third-party diagnostics (IXL, Firefly, DIBELS). Petrie said some vendor packages include embedded assessments and digital components while others do not, and the district will evaluate vendor assessments against its own diagnostics and local data to determine alignment and usefulness.

Petrie also drew attention to draft guidance from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) on resource accessibility and said the district will review that draft (AR-108) as part of its vendor vetting. "That draft is something that will be coming back to all of you for potential adoption," she said.

The committee did not take formal action on the curriculum during the meeting; Petrie said she will provide an update at the May 12 Education & Student Services committee meeting and report vendor and pilot recommendations after the June review work.

Next steps: staff will finalize teacher questions (June 8), host vendor demos (June 9), run targeted pilots in 2025-26, and use pilot results plus continued professional learning to inform districtwide implementation in 2027-28.