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Portland Public Schools reports literacy gains, plans relaunch of elementary math curriculum
Summary
District staff reported year‑end gains in ELA implementation — elementary classrooms meeting a key 'cognitive‑load' measure rose to 70% and multilingual supports were observed in 77% of classrooms — and announced plans to relaunch Illustrative Mathematics and strengthen PD for middle‑school math.
Portland Public Schools staff told the Curriculum and Student Success Committee on June 22 that the district met most year‑two goals for its ELA rollout and will relaunch its elementary math program with targeted improvements.
Jesse Robinson, elementary director of academics, said the district implemented CKLA and ELELA across elementary grades and embedded supports for multilingual learners, including language dives, conversation cues, vocabulary development and close reading. "We accomplished what we set out to do," Robinson said, citing walk‑through data that showed the percentage of classrooms where the majority of students carried the cognitive load rose from 62% in the fall to 70% in the spring. He added that multilingual supports were observed in 77% of classrooms, just short of the 80% goal.
The report said the elementary math work group reviewed current practice and will relaunch Illustrative Mathematics (IM) districtwide while improving cumulative review and fluency practice within the program.
Allison Dean, director of secondary academics, told the committee that middle‑school ELA also advanced and that a design year for middle‑school math produced similar findings: pilot programs were aligned to the district's vision but required stronger professional development. "For grade 6–8, we were able to get [the cognitive‑load metric] up to 80%, exceeding our goal," Dean said, summarizing middle‑school classroom observations.
District leaders said next steps include continued walk‑throughs and data‑driven planning, relaunched training and curriculum planning time, and focused PD to increase procedural fluency and student discourse in math. The district plans to carry these adjustments into the coming school year as part of its strategic‑plan work.
The committee did not take a vote; staff said implementation updates and relaunch plans will be monitored and reported back to the board during the year.
