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Township of Union board previews Atlas digital curriculum, schedules family session
Summary
Board members heard a presentation on Atlas, a web-based platform that digitizes curricula and provides standards-alignment and assessment reports; the district plans staff rollout and a family night and emphasized supports for ESL, special education and at-risk students.
The Township of Union Board of Education on Oct. 8 reviewed the district's rollout of Atlas, a web-based curriculum platform the district says will digitize unit overviews and make standards, assessments and instructional resources more accessible to staff and the public.
Mr. Michael Cohan, presenting the Education/Student Discipline Committee agenda, asked for board access to Atlas' technology. Dr. Jose Rodriguez told the board that about 250 curricula are being updated, with some changes driven by new standards. Presenters Jeremy Cohen, Randi Hutchinson and Craig Wojcik described Atlas as providing an internal and a public version of unit overviews that include content, guiding questions, standards, New Jersey mandates and assessments. They said the platform also lists core and supplemental resources and provides guidance and modifications for at-risk students, multilingual learners, gifted students and students with 504/special-education needs.
"It is a wonderful tool," said Mrs. Nancy Minneci. Mrs. Marissa McKenzie told the board staff found the platform user-friendly. Ms. Dicxiana Carbonell asked whether curriculum audits were possible; the presenters said Atlas can generate standards-alignment reports and assessment data to guide interventions. Mr. Cohan said the platform will help the district move forward; Superintendent Dr. Gerald Benaquista emphasized the collaborative nature of the rollout and said consistent use across schools should help ensure students receive comparable instruction.
The presenters said teachers participated in training over the summer and in September as part of professional development. They also said the district plans a family night in or about December to introduce parents to Atlas and to demonstrate features for families.
The board did not take a vote on the Atlas rollout at the worksession; the superintendent said finalized curricula would be posted online after board approval at a future meeting.
