Central York SD curriculum committee hears recommendation to adopt HMH Interliterature for middle school ELA

Presenters recommended that the Central York School District curriculum committee adopt HMH Interliterature for seventh- and eighth-grade English Language Arts, saying the program is aligned with state standards, embeds vocabulary and grammar instruction within text, and includes built-in formative assessments and optional AI "writable" supports.

The presenter told the committee the district’s review team vetted resources over the past year and narrowed the selection to HMH Interliterature. "Total cost for 6 year contract is $299,000," the presenter said, estimating that breaks down to about $53 per student per year when averaged across six years. The presenter said the six-year contract would replace consumable materials.

Laura Stein, department facilitator at the middle school, described the program’s literature selection and unit design: "some kind of more classic authors like Poe and Bradbury, but then contemporary voices as well, a variety of genres," she said, adding that units are thematic and include multiple text types (folk tales, poetry, argumentative and informative essays) to support curriculum rewrites.

Stein detailed instructional features she and the teacher committee valued: signposts for close reading (notice-and-note), embedded vocabulary and grammar practice tied to writing tasks, scaffolding and supplemental lessons for students who need extra practice, and a gradual-release instructional model (I do, we do, you do) aligned with K–6 work. She also described an optional AI-enabled "writable" tool that can be disabled or adjusted by teachers to provide varying levels of support.

Mr. Riley, a teacher involved in the review, said the resource provides a range of supports for struggling students and enrichment for advanced learners, noting peer coaching materials, videos and visual supports that can aid multilingual learners. When asked about language access, Stein said the vendor provided materials in Spanish and additional languages; "They gave us a number, but I'm not I wanted to say it's in the twenties, but not everything is fully translated," she said, clarifying some languages may have only summaries or vocabulary supports rather than complete text translations.

The presenter outlined assessment and measurement features, saying Interliterature gathers standards-based data when assignments are completed online and includes formative quick checks and built-in writing tasks intended to drive instruction and measure text-dependent analysis skills.

Committee members asked about piloting and implementation. Teachers piloted some poems in class and plan an abbreviated trial of the first unit in May to gather anecdotal feedback; Stein said online data access will not be available for that limited pilot, so the committee will receive teacher observations and examples from classrooms. Professional development is planned: teachers would be trained prior to the end of this school year, with follow-up training before implementation on the first weeks of the next school year.

The presenter also described a restructuring of honors eighth-grade ELA to broaden access; citing internal work, the presenter said about "80-ish" students are expected to qualify next year and could benefit from enrichment embedded in the program. Committee members were invited to observe the May pilot and will be provided feedback from the classroom trials before any formal procurement action.

No formal motion or vote was recorded on the recommendation at this meeting; the item concluded with the presenter thanking members and the committee chair asking for follow-up feedback after the pilot.