Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Curriculum Review topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Germantown committee narrows K–5 social studies choices to two pilots; high‑school math review remains open
Summary
Staff told the Germantown School District Teaching and Learning Committee the K–5 social studies team has narrowed options to two candidate resources (a largely digital platform and a McGraw Hill physical program) and will present a pilot plan in June; the committee also heard an early-stage update on 9–12 math publishers under review.
The Germantown School District Teaching and Learning Committee on May 5 heard a curriculum update from district staff about planned pilots for elementary social studies and a preliminary screening of high‑school math resources.
District staff told the committee the K–5 social studies review team has established a vision, prioritized standards and winnowed potential materials to two finalists that the district will pilot next year. "The team has been able to narrow the social studies options down to two potential options for things that we could pilot next year," the staff member presenting the update said, adding that a formal pilot proposal will be presented to the committee in June.
Why it matters: elementary schedules are tightly scheduled around literacy and math, and the committee and staff said the pilot is meant to test whether a resource can be used meaningfully within current time constraints. One finalist—described by staff as Inquire Ed—is largely digital; the other is a McGraw Hill product, described as a physical collection of primary and secondary sources. Teachers raised concerns about screen time and whether a digital tool could meaningfully increase classroom engagement without overloading students with device time.
The district plans to pilot both finalists with volunteer teachers. Staff described a "stacked" approach under which participating teachers will use units from each resource so they can compare experience and student work; the team will measure pre/post learning and collect teacher feedback. Staff said the proposed social studies pilot will target grades 3–5; K–2 teachers are instead looking to build internal units that crosswalk to the Wonders literacy materials in use at younger grades.
Committee members also asked about how Germantown compares with nearby districts. The presenting staff member said the district consults peers, and that some districts are building their own social studies units while others are adopting vendor packages. Budget constraints affect those choices elsewhere, but the presenter said Germantown is currently able to invest in materials.
On 9–12 mathematics, staff said the review is at an earlier stage: teams screened major publishers and requested samples. Candidates listed by staff include Savvas, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Reveal Math (a McGraw Hill product), OpenUp (the district’s middle‑school resource with a high‑school offering) and CPM. Staff cautioned that CPM is undergoing revisions with an uncertain timetable, which is a factor the review team is weighing.
No formal decisions or votes were taken on curriculum materials at the meeting. Staff said they will bring a written pilot plan for the social studies candidates to the June committee meeting that will outline units to be piloted, implementation steps and measures the district will use to evaluate classroom impact.
Next steps: staff will present a pilot plan in June; social studies adoption and any broader implementation are scheduled to follow the district’s pacing (science next year, social studies the year after) to avoid overwhelming teachers with simultaneous rollouts.
