She said all schools received the new materials, which include lesson plans, teacher manuals and other resources, by the end of December. Teachers began using the updated curriculum Jan. 27.
In 2021, before Act 20 was enacted, the school district entered an eight-year, $12 million contract with publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to adopt literacy curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade. But district leaders this fall learned the materials ā the second version of a curriculum called Into Reading ā were incompatible with the state’s standards for science of reading instruction, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said at a Nov. 13 School Board meeting.
Prior to purchasing new resources, the district had attempted to create its own materials and reconstruct the existing curriculum to more accurately reflect the science of reading. The process frustrated some teachers who said they received frequent changes in guidance throughout the year, with little time to adapt.