Harford County school board awards $1.8M for pilot of the Benchmark Advance reading curriculum for K-5

Jun. 13—The Harford County Board of Education approved a contract award at its Monday meeting for the pilot of the Benchmark Advance program in reading for select elementary schools beginning this fall.

On May 22, the board approved the pilot of the Benchmark Advance program after the Lucy Calkins Units of Study program came under fire by some board members and parents in a debate over whether it is the right way to teach students how to read. The school system first adopted the Units of Study program in 2019, and it is currently being used in kindergarten through fifth grade.

The Benchmark Advance program was one of 18 reading curriculum programs reviewed by the Elementary Reading Textbook Selection Committee formed by the Harford County Public Schools Office of Reading, English Language and Arts with the approval of the General Curriculum Committee. The committee considered how many school districts used or are planning to use a list of reading curricula collected by the committee.

Programs that did not meet expectations on EdReports Alignment and Usability, an independent nonprofit designed to improve K-12 education, were removed from the list, according to a presentation from the Office of Reading, English Language and Arts at the May 22 board meeting.

After a three-day review including publishers' presentations and a review of criteria tools, instructional technology and accessibility components, the list of programs was narrowed down to Benchmark Education — Benchmark Advance, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt — Into Reading, Imagine Learning — EL Education, and McGraw Hill — Wonders. Out of 44 committee members, 25 members voted for Benchmark Advance, 17 members voted for Into Reading, and two voted for Wonders.

At Monday's board meeting, a contract award of $1.8 million was approved, including $1 million from the fiscal 2023 operating budget, $822,000 from the fiscal 2023 Blueprint Transitional Instruction Grant, and $41,800 from the American Rescue Plan Transitional Supplemental Instruction Grant.

The reading program will be piloted for six years at Abingdon, Church Creek, Deerfield, Forest Hill, Forest Lakes, Havre de Grace, Joppatowne, Magnolia, Meadowvale, Old Post Road and North Bend Elementary Schools. The award will fund the startup costs including professional development for staff, all teacher resources (print and digital), classroom books (printed), and digital books for each student.

Benchmark Advance features close reading, small-group time, and decodable books that allow young readers to focus on specific phonics sounds and the spelling of words. Magazines included in the program will be sent home with students for at-home reading to allow parents to participate.

The decodable books that were recently purchased in March for the Units of Study program will still be used in the pilot of Benchmark Advanced. The Benchmark program can use any decodable book, according to curriculum specialist Gideon Twigg

The school system's next steps is to create a professional development plan.

The next Board of Education meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on June 26.