Sioux Falls approves $5.1M purchase for various K-12 science curriculum
The Sioux Falls School District Board of Education approved a $5.1 million science curriculum purchase Monday night that will help teach to the South Dakota Board of Education and Next Generation Science Standards in the 2023-2024 school year.
Total cost for the curriculum was $5,153,382, with $2,332,982 going to elementary school, $1,305,400 to middle school, $1,474,000 to high school, and $21,100 to special education for education materials supplied by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Attainment.
In elementary school, the resources, lab kits and teacher professional development to be purchased will come from Amplify.
Vendors for the middle school curriculum include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Accelerate Learning, Vernier, Amazon, Flinn Scientific and Cengage, for materials including Dimensions and StemScopes print/online and lab supplies, textbooks, Exploring Science and teacher professional development.
There are 38 different high school curriculum vendors for items such as microscopes, cameras, textbooks, lab supplies, telescopes, human body system models, wildlife guides, outdoor supplies, calculators, printers, hardware for robotics, a stretcher for the EMT course and a blood pressure reader for Health Careers courses.
Purchase of the curriculum will support the work of a K-12 steering committee, leveled science committees and the district’s curriculum council, who all met over the last year to determine the district’s science curriculum needs.
More:Sioux Falls schools, Legislature haven’t bowed to parents’ requests for book bans so far
The K-12 steering committee consisted of 13 teachers, one from each K-12 grade; three special education teachers; one counselor; eight administrators; three parents; and, two community members. They met three times in the 2021-2022 school year and two times this school year.
Each committee’s work included decisions such as selecting textbooks or creating new courses. For example, in high school, the science committee created three new courses that will be offered: earth science, real-world science and forensics.
The committee also decided that a course recently piloted at Washington High School, “Basics of the Human Body,” will now be offered at all four high schools.
Each group will continue to meet during the coming school year to monitor implementation of the new science curriculum.
Other science committees included the following:
Elementary team: 27 classroom teachers, two English Learner teachers, two Challenge Center teachers, one gifted education teacher, nine instructional coaches, and an elementary administrator, who all met monthly starting last spring.
Middle school team: 18 middle school science teachers, one Spanish immersion science teacher, three English Learner science teachers, two honors science teachers, two instructional coaches from middle school, one school administrator and the middle school curriculum coordinator. They met once each month on average beginning in August 2021.
High school team: More than 50 teachers in committees formed for each science course. Each committee consisted of science teachers, special education teachers, instructional coaches, and the high school curriculum coordinator. Each committee met once each quarter starting in the fall of 2021. Middle school teachers and the middle school science instructional coach participated in the biology committee meetings.
Special education committee: four middle school special education teachers, four high school special education teachers, two science instructional coaches, and four special education instructional coaches. The committee met every quarter since last spring.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls schools approve $5.1M purchase for K-12 science curriculum
