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Board hears update on ELA/ELD curriculum pilot; staff pledges teacher feedback before adoption
Summary
Board members and staff described a multi-stage review of integrated ELA/ELD materials and committed to collecting teacher feedback and scheduling professional-development days before making an adoption recommendation to the board.
The board received an update on a proposed pilot for an integrated English language arts (ELA) and English language development (ELD) curriculum, with staff saying they are collecting teacher feedback and building a timeline before recommending adoption. The Chair introduced Dr. Valentine and Ms. Armstrong as participants in the presentation and said the process is continuing with preview sessions and a smaller review team of principals and teacher representatives.
Staff described December and January preview sessions in which teachers and administrators reviewed materials and asked questions of publishers. “Los maestros estaban realizando un currículum de desarrollo de Leoma Inglés… los maestros estaban muy emocionados ver un programa integral de ELD,” staff said, describing early teacher responses. Staff said the next step is to gather systematic feedback from directors and site teams and then craft a calendar that may include professional-development days in fall depending on the pace the board chooses.
The presentation identified three curricular programs under consideration for parts of the review: two ELD-designated programs already on California’s approved list and a literacy program (Amplify/TKLA) that staff said includes additional supports for students struggling with reading. Staff emphasized they had not yet chosen a curriculum for adoption and are still designing a process to narrow options based on teacher input and timing constraints.
Board members raised procedural questions about how teachers will be represented on the review committee and how the district will balance urgency with a thorough evaluation. One board member said she had placed the item on the agenda to ensure the board discussed the work before its March meeting and asked staff for a concise summary of next steps. Staff responded they intend to return to the board after compiling teacher feedback and that any recommendation will reflect both the science-of-reading alignment and program implementation needs.
The board set the expectation that teachers and a range of school leaders will participate in the next round of review and that staff will return with more explicit timelines and a recommended implementation plan before any official adoption vote.
