July 20, 2026 at 5:30 PM - Curricular/Co-Curricular Committee Meeting

Description:  The Board will review information regarding potential middle school science instructional resources. Administration will present previously reviewed options, including a recommended resource that aligns with the District's new middle school science curriculum while remaining fiscally responsible. If the Board does not approve any of the presented options, the administration and middle school science staff will continue to explore alternative resources to support implementation of the new curriculum.

Information provided by District Leader:  My middle school colleagues and I have been looking at a variety of resources to support our instruction ever since we recently updated our science curriculum. Over the past couple of years, we have found several good supplement resources, like Scholastic Science World Magazine, iExplore Science, Teachers Pay Teachers lessons, etc., that have helped support our new curriculum. However, we felt we were still lacking a resource that presented the core science content (i.e. the essential scientific concepts) in an organized and student-friendly way. 


My colleagues and I felt that our old textbook series from SAVVAS did a nice job of presenting the core scientific content in a clear and concise way. We discovered that SAVVAS created an updated version of the old series, called Elevate Science, that presented the content in a more appealing way with updated graphics and content. In addition, the updated series focuses more on phenomena-based instruction, which directly aligns with our new phenomena-focused storylines that we created. Finally, we feel this series will help us to be able to address the core content that is required in the PA STEELS standards.

I attached a copy of the presentation that Dr. Megan Hull and I presented at a previous curriculum meeting. With keeping finances in mind, we choose Option 4, which would provide all the middle school science classrooms with new textbooks. These textbooks would be reused every year (instead of ordering student workbooks every year) to save money. Unfortunately, the books alone do not include the assessments, worksheets, lab sheets, etc. So, we are requesting a 1-year subscription to the online portion of Elevate Science so that teachers have the ability to download the online resources during the first year of implementation. We choose this option instead of paying for an online subscription each year to help keep costs down.

If the committee decides not to move forward with Option 4 or any of the other options, we would respectfully understand their decision. As an alternative option, the science team expressed to me that it would be fine if we had to focus on purchasing new textbooks for two grade levels at a time (i.e. 5th and and 6th grade only) instead of four grade levels. If so, I could gather a quote for textbooks and 1-year online access for two grade levels only. If the committee decides not to move forward with this resource at all, I will work with my colleagues to look for other resources in the meantime.
 

Description:  This item was tabled at the Voting Meeting on Thursday, July 16, to allow the committee to obtain additional information before proceeding with further review and consideration. Discussion included the history of the laptop cart project, previous communications, anticipated costs, potential benefits related to repairs, maintenance, and technology management, as well as clarification regarding remote learning days versus snow make-up days.

A proposal is attached for the carts.