The North Wasco County School Board approved the adoption of new textbooks and other instructional materials for K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) during their April 28 meeting, holding regular session in-person for the first time since November of last year.
Scott Whitbeck, director of school improvement, along with district instructional coaches Jen Englerth and Katie Ortega, presented to the board the recommended instructional materials.
According to their presentation, the Oregon Department of Education’s (ODE) process of adopting new textbooks and instructional materials occurs every seven years, with the State Board of Education’s approved list of materials having become publicly available for viewing October of 2021.
Ortega broke down the selection process, which started in January and consisted of an ELA instructional materials adoption team reviewing samples of the materials and garnering feedback from different staff members, reviewing full sets of the curriculum at Western Oregon University, before deciding on which materials to train teachers on and pilot in classrooms for periods of, according to Ortega, 3-5 weeks.
According to the presentation, after gathering observational data and evidence of learning, the ELA adoption team and came on a final decision for recommendations based on data such as teacher feedback and student artifact analysis.
“Each level, elementary, middle and high, it was very easy,” said Ortega, “It was very easy choices between all three. The ones that were chosen were overwhelmingly the favorites. So that’s kind of how we went.”
Recommended materials included “Wit and Wisdom,” an elementary level comprehension, writing and language curriculum published by Great Minds, which, according to Englerth in her break down of the curriculum, is knowledge based and “focuses on student questioning and inquiry and builds rich layers of knowledge throughout K-5 (grade).” “Fundations,” a foundational skills and phonics based elementary level curriculum published by Wilson Reading was also recommended, focusing on elements such as students understanding of sounds and letters in relation to words, according to Englerth, and includings materials such as “Geodes,” or decodable texts in which K-2 students can utilize to help them learn how to read.
Based on factors such as the cost of core materials, independent reading texts, and instructional staff and administrator training, the cost presented for the recommended elementary ELA curriculum and materials was estimated at $410,000.
The other recommended instructional materials and curriculum included “Amplify ELA,” grade 6-8 level curriculum published by the company Amplify, at an estimated cost of $132,000 for materials, and HMH Into Literature, a 9-12 level curriculum publsihed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, at an estimated cost of $138,000 for core materials and supplemental novels for students. In total, the estimated cost of the entire K-12 recommended ELA curriculum came to $689,000.
“So it looks like a very big dollar amount,” said Whitbeck, “But that covers every teacher in elementary, and also includes all the language arts teachers of the secondary schools, but also our title one reading specialists, our special education teachers have extra copies for administrators, so they can be up on the materials too. So everybody who needs to have them will have them.”
After discussing factors such as translation to online learning and supply availability for the fall, Director Dawn Rasmussen made a motion to approve the adoption, which was seconded by Director Judy Richardson, and passed unanimously.
“I just want to thank you for all of your hard work on going through this process this year.” said Superintendent Carolyn Bernal, “Board, I just want you to know this is probably one of the best processes I’ve seen done this year in terms of piloting curriculum … I am so excited to see this curriculum come alive in front of the kids this fall.”
Strategic planning update
During her report, Bernal shared an update on District 21’s strategic planning process, which began earlier this year, facilitated by Public Consulting Group, a public sector management and operations improvement firm.
“Over the last couple of months, we have been involved with completing one on one interviews, focus groups, and also a survey that we had out for quite a bit of time … we did quite a bit of outreach to our stakeholders,” said Bernal, “we did do focus groups, and that included focus groups with parents, staff, community, building leaders, teachers, board members and students.”
According to Bernal’s report, more than 60 individuals participated in the focus groups, 18 one-one-one interviews with district staff, administrators, directors and liasons were held, and 460 district staff members, parents, students and community members responded to the survey. Bernal said results of that survey noted what the district has done well included “genuine, caring, decided and hardworking teachers,” as well as “prioritizing our students and their academic success.” Other positive notes included improved communication and the handling of COVID-19 and keeping students in school.
Bernal also reported that more than 70% of district staff, teachers and administrators responded that they felt well informed, with “initiatives, announcements and updates that pertain directly to their role,” along with more than 70% of all respondents in NWCSD also responding they felt well informed about NWCSD information and updates, and 65% of parents reporting that they felt well informed about their child’s education.
Several challenges were noted in the survey, the highest including the hiring and high turnover rate of quality teachers, maintaining facilities, and the meeting of all students physical and mental needs.
According to Bernal, five major themes were consistent throughout the survey, their prevalence ranking community engagement as the highest, followed by teaching and learning, administration, staffing, the student experience, and facilities.
Bernal concluded her report with a student “wishlist” consisting of feedback gathered from focus groups with middle school and high school students. Consistent feedback given included a greater awareness around mental health and available services, with high schoolers requesting a metal health professional available for students and staff, increased passing periods and later starting times, improved facilities such as a new high school building and a place for bus riders to wait in the morning at the middle school, discussions on difficult and challenging topics, access to more clubs, electives, and foreign language courses, and community building events to better connect with peers.
“I thought those were some very great and telling things right out of our students mouths,” said Bernal.
According to Bernal, next the next steps in the strategic planning process include a meeting between the steering committee and Public Consulting Group to reviewing the current mission and vision to evaluate if changes need to be made, as well as begin the process of using the gathered data to identify priority areas and the district’s goals.
You can view the entire April 28 School board meeting on YouTube at the District 21 Media channel.
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