Poudre School District sets public meetings for review of K-5 literacy curriculum options

Kelly Lyell, Fort Collins Coloradoan
·2 min read
In this file photo, Fossil Ridge High School senior Lakin Rice talks with a student while Early Childhood teacher Carisa Madrid reads aloud to the class at Putnam Elementary School on April 20, 2022.
In this file photo, Fossil Ridge High School senior Lakin Rice talks with a student while Early Childhood teacher Carisa Madrid reads aloud to the class at Putnam Elementary School on April 20, 2022.

Parents and others interested in learning more about the new literacy curriculum Poudre School District is considering adopting for elementary schools for the 2023-24 school year will have the opportunity to examine materials of the three finalists first-hand and question the vendors of the three finalists at sessions next week.

Three vendors — Amplify CKLA, Imagine EL and Into Reading — identified this past fall as the finalists by the district’s Literacy Materials Review Team will have curriculum material and vendors available at the following sessions:

  • 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, at Eyestone Elementary School, 4000 Wilson Ave., Wellington

  • 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, at Rocky Mountain High School, 1300 W. Swallow Road, Fort Collins

  • 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, at Fossil Ridge High School, 5400 Ziegler Road, Fort Collins

Each event will include an opening session explaining the purpose of adopting new literacy curriculum for students in grades K-5, what the district hopes to gain from the new curriculum and an overview of the process that led to the identification of the three finalists.

Vendors will each have individual presentations available in separate rooms, where people can ask questions and view the curriculum materials.

Public feedback will be collected through comment cards at the door of each session.

PSD is adopting new literacy curriculum for districtwide implementation next year to provide teachers with “high quality instructional materials that align with the Colorado Academic Standards and support the Common Core Key Shifts in Language Arts,” the district wrote in an explanation of the review process on its website.

All of the adopted materials are on the Colorado Department of Education’s advisory list of instructional programming, “which identifies programming that supports systematic development of foundational reading skills for all PSD students,” the district wrote.

The district’s Literacy Materials Review Team will make a final recommendation on which of the three literacy curricula to adopt at the end of this month, and then enter into negotiations with that vendor and develop and finalize an implementation plan that will be submitted to the PSD Board of Education for approval in April.

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers educatiion and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: PSD sets public meetings for review of K-5 literacy curriculum options