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El Rancho Unified recommends Amplified Desmos for middle/high school math and TCI for high-school social studies
Summary
After a districtwide pilot and rubric-based review, El Rancho Unified’s adoption committees recommended Amplified Desmos for middle-school and core high-school math and TCI Alive for high-school social studies, citing teacher and student feedback on accessibility and engagement.
El Rancho Unified School District staff recommended on Jan. 20 that the board adopt new instructional materials for secondary math and social studies after a multi-stage pilot and evaluation process.
In a presentation to the board, Coordinator Jasmine Chavez Diaz and committee lead Mr. Orson described a two-step screening, teacher piloting and rubric scoring process used to narrow five potential math programs to two pilots: Illustrative Mathematics (KDUM) and Amplified Desmos. Teachers and students piloted both programs, completing rubrics addressing sensemaking, discussion, student agency and teacher supports. "Amplified Desmos allows for reteach, intervention and extension and met our teachers where they are," a staff presenter said during the meeting.
The committee reported that most grade levels and courses favored Amplified Desmos for its digital platform, formative assessment tools and accessibility features. Committee notes said KDUM scored stronger at higher levels (geometry and Algebra II) on measures of rigor, so the district will consider supplemental materials for those courses where needed.
For social studies, the middle-school committee compared McGraill Impact and Sava’s Learnings/My World and recommended Sava for middle school. At the high-school level teachers piloted TCI and Sava; evaluators highlighted TCI’s universally designed features such as text-to-speech, differentiated readings and broad ancillaries. The high-school committee recommended TCI Alive for adoption.
Board members asked how the new adoptions would align with prior elementary choices and requested information on hard-copy availability for families. District staff responded that hard sets would be assigned to classrooms and digital-plus-paper options will be available to accommodate diverse learners.
The materials recommendation will move forward in the adoption process: the district plans to finalize contracts in time for professional development in March and pullout collaboration days later in spring to prepare teachers for fall implementation.
