Alma School District board approves continued use of current curriculum; assessment data expected this fall

The Alma School District Board approved the administration'recommended continuation of the district's curriculum for K'12 during its regular meeting.

Dr Wood, who presented the curriculum packet (page 29 of the board materials), said most materials remain unchanged and emphasized literacy and comprehension alongside decoding skills. "All of our curriculum is available on the website for any parent to get on at anytime and look at what we're doing in our classrooms," she said. She told the board the district will "stick with EL" for literacy, maintaining materials purchased in recent years and adding teacher editions and decodable books for kindergarten through second grade.

The administration also said math will remain the IM (Illustrative Mathematics) program, a problem'based approach in place for several years, while science uses Mystery Science in K'5 and will pilot a tool called Gizmos for virtual experiments at upper grades. Dr Wood said course codes and the district's full list of course offerings will be submitted to the state for formal approval.

Board members questioned how much staff time is required to vet and adopt curriculum. Dr Wood said the work varies by year and by program: "When you get pretty stable curriculum it doesn't take a lot of time," she said, adding literacy adoption required more effort than a third'year math implementation.

Administrators said statewide changes to assessment and cut scores are underway and that the first round of assessment reports could be available in late October, with school ratings likely in February 2025; those results, they said, will inform any future curriculum adjustments. The board moved and seconded the recommendation and voted to approve the continued use of the high school and K'A curricula as presented.