'What we believe is right': APS wants new English curriculum embracing equity, diversity

At a time when political debates are swirling in Ohio about school curriculum and the role of schools in teaching controversial subjects, the Akron Public Schools administration is recommending new English and reading curriculums for K-12 students that put equity and diversity front and center.

The school board could vote as early as Monday on the measure, which has already been through two readings in the last three weeks.

The district is recommending the purchase of three curriculums for English language arts and reading from two companies.   

The curriculum for students in kindergarten through second grade is called Wonders 2023 from McGraw Hill. The curriculums for grades three to five and six to 12 are from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and are called Into Reading and Into Literature. The cost for all three is just over $5.5 million.

The district adopts new curriculum for all subjects on roughly a seven-year cycle, a necessary move to accommodate changing state standards and to keep materials up to date.

While routine, the purchase is significant, both in the impact it has every day in schools for students and teachers and because the district is committing to a curriculum rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion.

Meanwhile, at the state legislature, there is talk of outlawing the teaching of "divisive concepts" like the intersectionality of race, gender and sexuality, and white privilege. The Akron school board and the teachers union recently passed resolutions condemning three such bills that have been introduced in the house, which mirror bills passed into law in other states.

'Divisive concepts' in education: If 'divisive concepts' are outlawed, would the Akron Public Schools board comply?

Assistant Superintendent and Chief of Academics Ellen McWilliams-Woods said her team has not combed the materials to see if there are any mentions of any of the terms the proposed legislation would outlaw.

"Historically, I would never start to anticipate and look at trying to make decisions about something that’s early through a legislative process," McWilliams-Woods said. "There's so many bills that happen that way, we always have to wait and see what gets passed, so I think it's premature for us to even go there."

But Akron as a whole has always plowed forward with its work based on its own value system, regardless of the political winds in Columbus, she said.

"This has been a tenet of the city of Akron for a long time," McWilliams-Woods said. "We put our heads down and move forward with what we believe is right for our children and our families and our community, and that's the only thing at this time that we can focus on."

The city and the school district in particular, she noted, are heavily diverse in race, backgrounds and schools of thought.

Akron-based employers have told the school district they need employees who can solve problems and work in a diverse team, serving diverse communities, she said.

"For us, our focus has to be how are we going to help the businesses fill all their openings with a diverse population that right now can't access those jobs," she said.

Akron seeks diversity in its learning materials

The Akron school board has shown equal commitment to equity, specifically racial equity — a concept that every student should receive what they need to succeed, and that could be different for each student, and that racist systems and structures have played a role in those needs.

The board passed a racial equity policy last fall and created an equity committee, which is conducting an audit to better understand the district's shortcomings when it comes to providing the same opportunities for all students.

In a committee meeting this month, board members asked questions about the curriculum materials' ability to reach all students. Board member Diana Autry said she flipped through some of the books and saw usage of the words "race" and "racism" without apology.

"I appreciated just seeing that in the materials," she said.

Akron learning specialist Toan Dang-Nguyen said the teams that assessed the materials looked for diversity in stories, and who is depicted in those stories. But it's not about telling students what to think, she said.

"I think it's not really taking a stance but giving kids, helping them understand that and allowing them to engage in rich conversations about it," she said.

Classroom learning more 'activity-oriented'

One example in the high school materials is an exercise about poverty. Students are asked to discuss in a small group strategies for fighting poverty in the United States, and then to create a list of those strategies and rank them by how effective the students think they would be.

The materials also emphasize growing students' social and emotional skills. One passage on social and emotional learning talks about the skill of self-awareness, encouraging students to be curious and to have conversations about what they are curious to learn in a section.

Dang-Nguyen said the team also liked these materials best because they offered the strongest approach to helping students who are behind after a year of remote learning to get caught up. The materials focus on pushing students to work at grade level, with intervention for those who need it.

"Most of your time spent should be on core instruction, and if kids are not getting it, we can provide some supports," she said.

Books in a classroom are also just a starting point for teachers, McWilliams-Woods said. Long gone are the days of starting on page 1 on the first day and moving page by page in class and then offering a multiple choice test. The new materials need to be able to support teachers to teach the state standards that students have to learn, but in a way that broadens their learning beyond rote facts.

"It has to be set up where it's more activity-oriented where kids are working on projects, where kids have choices on how they're going to present their answers, where kids can work on real life projects out in the community and bring it in to show how their seventh grade English writing project is going to help their community," McWilliams-Woods said.

Bulky textbooks moving to digital platform

The days of Akron students lugging home cumbersome textbooks is also about to come to an end.

While students will still have physical books to hold in their hands, any bulky textbook is fully moving to the digital platform. That can allow the textbook companies to make real-time updates to the materials, McWilliams-Woods said, or to link to other related topics or materials.

"Digital, you can click and it goes to other amazing things," she said. "Textbook, it doesn't. You get whatever's printed and you get no other additional resources."

While the materials will all be available digitally for students, hard copy samples are available for the public to review at the board office at the district's headquarters, 10 N. Main, ahead of Monday's meeting.

Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet. 

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron schools board to vote on new English curriculum rooted in equity