District reviews two ELA curriculum options, highlights 'science of reading' and training plan

Curriculum director Beth Johnson told the board the district prioritized alignment with the state’s literacy framework and the science of reading as it evaluated three pilot curricula and narrowed to two finalists.

Johnson said the district’s literacy committee used rubrics from nonprofit reviewers and its own needs assessment. “We piloted three separate curriculum, and [Magnetic Literacy] came in at $417,020.40 for a six-year package,” she said, noting that Amplify initially submitted a higher price and that the vendor was negotiating to be more competitive. Johnson emphasized the difference in approaches: Magnetic Literacy emphasizes inquiry and discussion, while Amplify is “knowledge-driven literacy” that embeds content-area material into ELA lessons.

Johnson described training already underway (a three-hour science-of-reading crash course delivered districtwide in October) and a literacy grant partnership with Black Hills State University that will support implementation and professional learning over multiple years. She said student digital licenses, consumable decodable texts and teacher digital resources would be provided by either vendor, and that the board would see a final adoption recommendation next month to allow materials to be available for a March in-service.

Board members asked about time for teacher onboarding; Johnson said the grant and vendor supports will cover much of the initial professional development and that middle- and high-school teachers will require additional supports in later years. The board did not take action; Johnson will return with final pricing and pilot results.