Board adopts new K–5 literacy curricula after unanimous pilot recommendations

The San Rafael City School Board voted April 28 to adopt two new kindergarten-through-fifth-grade English language arts curricula: Arts & Letters for structured English immersion (SEI) classrooms and Benchmark Adelante for the district's dual-language immersion (DLI) program.

District staff said the selection followed a 10-week pilot process and a rigorous set of selection criteria developed with teachers. According to staff, pilot survey results favored Arts & Letters for SEI classrooms and Benchmark Adelante for DLI; the presenters characterized the pilot feedback as strongly in favor of those materials.

What the curricula provide: staff described Arts & Letters as a knowledge-rich curriculum that integrates reading, writing, language development and content strands such as science and social studies and includes built-in supports intended to help multilingual learners build background knowledge. Benchmark Adelante was presented as a DLI-specific curriculum with English and Spanish components aligned to a 50/50 (adaptable) model and a broader set of shorter grade-level units that map to the districts content priorities.

Implementation and costs: the board approved material purchases and a publisher-supported professional-development plan. Staff said they will order materials immediately in hopes of receiving textbooks and teacher editions by June so that selected teachers can study the materials over the summer and attend training in August; district coaches and publisher training are included in the rollout plan. Staff also noted a multi-year alignment task to integrate the new materials with the districts SEAL content units and with K'2 foundational literacy materials already in use.

Trustee questions and next steps: trustees asked about pacing challenges, teacher workload, and how the new materials would interface with existing foundational-skills curricula in early grades; staff agreed these are priorities for the first implementation year and outlined coaching and site-collaboration time. The board approved both curriculum adoptions and the associated purchase orders.

Representative quote: Holly O'Donoghue, speaking earlier during labor-partner remarks, welcomed the districts decision and said, "We are excited to have the first dedicated dual language immersion curriculum in San Rafael City Schools," reflecting teacher pilot support for a structured DLI curriculum.

Sources: pilot summaries and staff presentation to the board at the April 28 meeting.