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Edmonds School District recommends new high‑school health, science and social studies materials; second readings scheduled
Summary
District staff recommended adopting LiveWell for health, Pure Physics/Living by Chemistry/New Visions OER for science, and Savvas for social studies after multi‑year reviews and classroom pilots; implementation budgets and training plans were presented and second readings will return to the board at a subsequent meeting.
District curriculum staff presented final recommendations for three high‑school curricular adoptions and asked the board to consider them at a second reading at the next meeting.
Jason Aylog, the district’s executive director of student learning, said teacher committees, pilot teachers, students and administrators took part in a multi‑stage review process designed to ensure standards alignment, representation and accessibility. For health, teacher specialists recommended LiveWell Comprehensive High School Health (Human Kinetics). Teacher on special assignment Jenny McQuan said the health pilot rated LiveWell highly for age‑appropriateness, medical accuracy and teacher editability; pilot and review teams voted unanimously to recommend LiveWell. The adoption budget was set at $60,000; presenters reported an actual first‑year cost of about $58,000 that includes teacher training. McQuan discussed an approximately $51,000 annual license cost and said the district budgeted for the initial implementation in the base curriculum budget.
On science, K–12 science content lead Jennifer Hegeman outlined committee work that reviewed 36 materials and piloted options with about 820 students. The committee recommended Pure Physics for physics, Living by Chemistry for chemistry, and the New Visions open educational resources for Earth & Space Science, with BioZone and Gizmos as supplemental resources. Hegeman said pilots showed strong NGSS alignment and teacher consensus; the board was presented with a three‑year implementation plan and associated professional learning costs that total just under $225,000.
For social studies, Aylog said pilot feedback from 1,103 students and teacher review favored Savvas over McGraw Hill for navigability and instructional support. The committee voted 17–0 to recommend Savvas as the core package and recommended supplemental materials for ethnic studies because the committee did not find a single prepackaged ethnic studies core that met district expectations. The social studies five‑year digital license bundle was presented with professional development and supplemental costs that come in slightly under the district’s allocated $750,000 budget.
District staff emphasized compliance with state law (including Since Time Immemorial tribal sovereignty education requirements) and district policy requiring broad committee representation, equity screening and classroom piloting. Staff also noted digital integration issues flagged during pilots (Canvas/Clever integration) that will be addressed through training during summer implementation.
The board held the items as first readings (no action) and is scheduled to consider second readings and final approval at the next meeting.
