District to seek integrated middle‑school science materials after teacher‑driven review

Amy Bowie presented middle‑school science data and recommended the district pursue an integrated 6–8 science curriculum. Bowie showed ISAT results and said teachers found the physical‑science standards more complex and unevenly distributed across grades; the district's 8th‑grade proficiency was similar to the state.

Bowie described a teacher-led review process that began in June and continued in August; 12 middle‑school science teachers ranked standards and recommended moving from separate physical/life/earth science year-long units to an integrated approach aligned to science-and-engineering practices and crosscutting concepts. Bowie told trustees the move was data-driven and supported by teachers and high-school partners who demonstrated phenomenon-driven lessons.

Administration has allocated funds from the current secondary textbook budget to cover the purchase, and Bowie outlined the adoption timeline: committee orientation and materials review on Jan. 30, publisher presentations and program review through late February, and an adoption-committee recommendation to the board at the March work session. The board discussed how to structure an advisory team and select parent representatives; several trustees preferred retaining an application process that yields background information on volunteers rather than pure random selection.

Bowie said advisory and adoption groups will report strengths and weaknesses for each program and that the selection process will include teacher and parent voices; the board agreed to preserve transparency while streamlining administrative steps to speed the timeline.