District 6 School Board members on Monday unanimously voted to adopt new curricula for middle school English and high school Advanced Placement French.
Prior to the Mill Levy Override (MLO) passing in 2017, the district had no curriculum adoptions for 10 years, according to President Michael Mathews. The MLO, renewed in 2021, has enabled the district to complete adoptions across all grade levels.
The board moved forward with the most recent curriculum based on recommendations from the Curriculum District Council, which gained guidance from the Advanced Placement (AP) Curriculum Adoption Committee and the Literacy Committee.
This marks the second adoption of a new middle school language arts curriculum in six years — when grades 6-12 received adoptions for all the core content areas.
Middle school English Language Arts
The board approved EL Education by Imagine Learning, a new language arts curriculum, based on a recommendation that started with the Literacy Committee.
EL Education’s estimated cost totals $960,897, according to Deagan Andrews, director of curriculum and personalized learning. This includes teacher manuals, consumable workbooks, a digital license for seven years, required and recommended books and professional learning for teachers.
The materials also align with the English Language curriculum across all grade levels and schools in the district.
“The continuity piece is the largest indicator for us,” Board Director Doran Azari said about the alignment. “Our kids need that.”
A group of 11 staff members served on the Literacy Committee to select the best-updated resource that addresses the diverse needs of District 6’s learners and aligns with the requirements of Colorado state standards, according to Stacie Datteri, assistant superintendent of elementary and K-8.
Before the curriculum update to the board on Monday, Superintendent Deirdre Pilch announced Datteri’s departure from District 6 to serve as superintendent at the Lewis-Palmer School District 38 in Colorado Springs starting on July 1. She has been employed in District 6 since 2005.
The first step of adoption involved assembling the committee to identify the materials for review and then followed with an assessment of resources using a rubric. District 6 then piloted the materials up for consideration in the schools, Andrews said.
Once the committee selected three finalists for the curriculum, the district allowed the community to provide feedback.
The committee considered feedback and reviewed rubric scores to determine a consensus. Andrews said the rubric showed EL Education averaged a 4.4 on a 5-point scale in the categories of content, student work, teacher work, digital content and assessment.
AP French
The board approved three new materials for AP French Language and Culture, as shared by Andrews, including:
• Scholastic, Chez Nous (Mary Glasgow), for a print classroom set.
• Wayside Publishing, EntreCultures, for a print and digital classroom set.
• Pearson/Savvas, Une fois pour toutes, for a print and digital classroom set.
The estimated cost of the new adoption totals $34,357, which was budgeted in the 2023-24 mill levy override, Andrews said.
Teachers from Greeley West, Greeley Central and Northridge served as members of the AP Curriculum Adoption Committee.
The committee completed six phases to land on the new resources. These included reviewing access and equity advanced courses, assessing resources through a rubric, hearing vendor presentations and gathering community feedback.
The three resource suggestions approved by the board mark the completion of a six-year process of updating AP curriculum resources, according to Datteri.
The new curriculum contributes to creating consistency in AP courses among the district’s high schools — an initiative of the past six years. In addition to consistency, the curriculum adapts to the instructional changes in AP courses to better prepare kids for college and career readiness.
The purpose of updating the curriculum also includes alignment to AP updates from the College Board, as well as to the College Board’s AP equity and access policy from the College Board, Datteri added.
Greeley-Evans District 6 remains up-to-date on all curriculum adoptions thanks to those who supported the MLO, Pilch said. Adoptions will continue to occur when updates are required.
“Thank you to our public,” Board President Michael Mathews said. “This is one of the things that we are able to do with our MLO that we were not able to do the 10 years before.”
District Accountability Committee’s recommendations
Out of 12 recommendations on spending in District 6 from the District Accountability Committee, a request for annual updates to core curricular resources landed at No. 8.
Nate Johnson, a member of the District Accountability Committee, shared the four top priorities of spending Monday evening at the board meeting. These included increasing school counselors, parent and family advocates and social workers and continuing to provide a robust summer learning program.
The committee recommended the district provide at least one school counselor in each elementary school and increase the number of school counselors at K-8, middle, and high schools.
Johnson said his team also found a need for more parent and family advocates in every elementary, K-8 and middle school to help support students in attendance, develop intervention strategies, provide case management, monitor student progress and make referrals to community resources.
The committee further recommended, according to Johnson, at least one part-time social worker in each elementary, K-8 and middle school and full-time social workers in high schools.
Johnson challenged the other dads in the school district to get involved in their kids’ education. He feels the board of education has listened to the recommendations made by those on the committee throughout his two years of involvement.
“Actions will always speak louder than words,” he said. “If you show up and are present in your child’s education, you will be heard.”
