School board to consider new reading curriculum for Salem’s elementary schools
The Salem-Keizer School Board on Tuesday, March 10, will take the first step toward approving new textbooks and lessons for teaching elementary school students to read — a major part of a district plan to improve its poor reading outcomes.
District leaders plan to roll out the new curriculum in the fall, with summer training for the teachers who will be using it.
A district committee is recommending the school board adopt “Into Reading”, a curriculum published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt with materials in English and Spanish. It’s one of two elementary teachers tested in classrooms this year.
Poor and inconsistent curriculum is a major reason the district has struggled to get most of its students on track with reading, Superintendent Andrea Castañeda said at a Salem Reporter Town Hall on the issue in February. She said adopting the new materials would cost about $11 million.
To participate
The Salem-Keizer School Board meets Tuesday, March 10, at 6 p.m. in the boardroom at 2575 Commercial St. S.E.
People can sign up for public comment by clicking the “request to speak” button at the top of the agenda. The meeting will be streamed on CC:Media, channel 21 or on YouTube in English and Spanish and interpreted live in American Sign Language.
Contact information for individual school board members is here.
The most recent state test scores last spring showed three in four third graders are not reading and writing at the level expected for their age.
Materials currently used in local schools don’t have strong phonics lessons, educators have said repeatedly over the past year.
Teachers generally use outside materials to supplement their lessons. Existing options also do a poorer job for students learning to read in Spanish, a significant share of the district which has grown in recent years as dual language programs have expanded.
“I am super excited and I think most of our elementary teachers are very excited as well,” said Tom Charboneau, an administrator overseeing elementary reading and curriculum.
He recalled coming to the district a decade ago as a principal and having teachers repeatedly ask when a new curriculum would be coming.
“They were not happy with the way it was rolled out, they were not happy with the training,” he said of the materials currently in use. “They’re finally getting something new, it’s a lot more comprehensive, it checks a lot more boxes.”
The school board will take an initial vote on the curriculum Tuesday and then finalize its selection at a later meeting.
The board will also consider new lessons and materials for high school algebra, geometry and statistics, and American Sign Language classes.
Contact Managing Editor Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for over a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
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I would like to know what top performing schools throughout the nation have been using this curriculum?