June 1, 2023 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Curriculum, Assessment & Professional Practices Committee Meeting

Key Points of the Briefing: 

• In June 2021, The Right to Read Act-Legislation HB 6620 was passed. It requires districts to implement an  evidence-based reading curriculum. (July 2023)

• The District Literacy Team reviewed programs from the state approved list using specific criteria including instructional design, evidence of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, alignment to the standards, and Multilingual Learner considerations. 

• We selected My View (Savvas) and Into Reading to pilot with teachers from Berry, Rockwell and Johnson School.

• The team selected My View (Savvas) 2020 for the following reasons:

  • Comprehensiveness/Rigor of curriculum and materials

  • Differentiated instruction-meeting the needs of all learners

  • Assessment and data-driven instruction

  • Connections to the global competencies and emotional intelligence

  • Correlation to our science program

  • Strong teacher support

• The total cost of the program is $620, 745.13

  • This includes all teacher manuals, digital subscriptions, student books, literature, classroom libraries and intervention materials for all K-5 classrooms

  • All professional learning is also included.

• Payment Structure (Attached)

Key Points of the Briefing: 

• BMS ELA representatives from each grade level reviewed literacy programs including Oakland School District Units of Study, Lucy Calkins Units of Study and EL Education (formerly Expeditionary Learning)

• In the upcoming school year at BMS, will be piloting an ELA open educational resource,  EL Education- Second Edition selected by the BMS team.

• The program:

  • Includes guiding questions and big ideas, content connections, technology and multimedia, independent research, and optional fieldwork/service and extensions

  • Requires use of the global competencies: critical thinking, collaboration, discovery, inquiry, and problem solving

  • Assesses learning through models, reflection, critique, rubrics, and conferencing

  • Builds equity through a classroom culture that values ideas and learning of all

• There are 4 modules per grade level and each module has 3 units and includes supporting materials for teachers and students, including guidance for supporting multilingual learners.

• Assessment- Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts program has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

• There are multiple resources accessible for our teachers:

  • Teacher Guide

  • Supporting Materials

  • Student Workbook

  • Guide for Multilingual learners

  • Anchor Text Guidance

  • Curriculum Tools- including conversation cues, language dives, and family letters

• There is a listing of required tradebooks needed, some of which we already own. We will use mostly grant funding to support purchasing needed books. 

• This is a high quality instructional resource rated highly by EdReports. Per the EdReports review texts are of high quality and include rigorous reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language practice. Students have the opportunity to engage with texts and tasks that promote knowledge building and are engaging. Supports for teachers to implement the materials with fidelity are clear and include guidance for differentiating to authentically grow students’ skills.  

Key Points of the Briefing: 

• In the upcoming school year, we will be piloting an 8th grade Spanish course designed to enhance the natural abilities of the heritage speaker, a student with a background knowledge of the Spanish language and strong speaking skills in Spanish. 

• The students enrolled in this course will learn the 8th grade Spanish curriculum with an emphasis on teaching the heritage speaker.

• The general objectives of this course are to develop competence in students’ reading and writing skills, to master certain grammar concepts particular to native/heritage speakers, to help them improve their presentational skills and take into account the experiences and influences of their bilingual and bicultural upbringing.  This course will place an emphasis on having a pride in one’s culture and sense of belonging in the community. 

• It will also help students to connect with others with a similar cultural background and gain a deeper understanding of their family's language and traditions. 

• Just as with our other 8th grade language courses, upon successful completion of this course and a passing grade on the final exam, students will earn one high school credit.

  • This credit does not count towards GPA at the high school but will appear on the high school transcript as a passing grade.  

• Students who are ready can move to Spanish 3 at the high school.  Many students will advance to honors Spanish from this course and will be on a track to take AP Spanish, as well as, become prepared to take the Seal of Biliteracy Test. 

Key Points of the Briefing: 

• In the upcoming school year at BMS, will be piloting a science open educational resource, OpenSciEd 2022

• OpenSciEd is a comprehensive middle school science program that empowers students to ask questions, design investigations, and solutions, and make sense of the world

• The program is:

  • Phenomenon Based - Centered around exploring phenomena or solving problem

  • Driven by Student Questions

  • Grounded in Evidence - Incremental building and revision of ideas based on evidence 

  • Collaborative - WE, the class and the teacher, figure out ideas together

  • Equitable - Builds a classroom culture that values ideas and learning of all

• Each OpenSciEd unit includes an assessment system that offers many opportunities for different types of assessments throughout the lessons. 

  • Every lesson has a lesson-level performance expectation and a three-dimensional learning expectation (Disciplinary Core Idea, Cross Cutting Concepts, and Science & Engineering Practices)

  • Progress Trackers are included- a way to synthesize the lesson level learning in relation to the unit concepts and phenomenon

• There are multiple resources accessible for our teachers:

  • Teacher Handbook - Provides overviews of features of the OpenSciEd units and resources that are likely to be new to many teachers. Each chapter focuses on a different feature. 

  • Teacher Resources and Tools - Provides a collection of all OpenScieEd tools and resources that can be used and customized for other units. 

  • Professional Learning Materials - There are six different professional learning sessions that support the classroom materials, starting with the Curriculum Launch. All the professional learning resources are Open Educational Resources (OER) so they can be downloaded, adapted, and shared. 

• This is a high quality instructional resource rated highly by EdReports because of its alignment to the NGSS, it’s coherence and scope, along with its usability.