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Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington’s bold new curriculum overhaul may develop into one among his most lasting impacts on the district.
With the varsity board’s approval of an extra $25 million for math manipulative instruments this week, what began as a $70 million initiative to standardize and enhance Philly colleges’ instructing sources has now grown to over $100 million — principally paid by federal COVID reduction.
In keeping with district information, the cash is being break up between some six distributors and can cowl sources for academics and college students by the 2027-28 college 12 months.
Watlington has stated giving college students a “state-of-the-art, best-in-class” curriculum that’s constant throughout metropolis colleges is an important and pressing a part of his five-year strategic plan to enhance college students’ studying circumstances.
Alongside the curriculum rework, the varsity district can also be forging forward with a services planning course of to “rightsize” the district’s college constructing inventory, reconfigure colleges which are overenrolled and underenrolled, and probably shut some buildings within the coming years.
“We’re taking the time to do that thoughtfully, in a method that we assist all of our communities, and in a method that we will be happy with,” Watlington stated in an interview with Chalkbeat this week in regards to the services course of. “When you’ve gotten a faculty of a sure measurement, you possibly can take present sources” and stretch them to achieve extra college students, Watlington stated.
The most up-to-date state take a look at rating outcomes present scholar achievement has been enhancing incrementally. Nonetheless, the district reported to the varsity board this week “as that was simply 12 months 1 of implementation [of the new math curriculum materials], we anticipate better good points within the coming years.”
Some academics have additionally expressed frustration with the curriculum rollout, telling Chalkbeat they didn’t really feel they obtained ample coaching and that the strict necessities can go away little room for personalization.
In keeping with the district, different academics in focus teams it has hosted have responded positively to the brand new math curriculum particularly, saying it elevated “scholar engagement, confidence, and collaboration.”
The $25 million in new cash accepted by the board Thursday is the primary to return from district working help relatively than the COVID reduction spending — nearly all of which expired final September.
Right here’s a breakdown of how the brand new curriculum spending is being distributed:
Math Core Tutorial Supplies for college years 2023-24 to 2027-28
- Vendor: Think about Studying – Illustrative Math, $45 million
English Language Arts Core Tutorial Supplies for college years 2024-25 to 2025-26
- Vendor: Expeditionary Studying/Think about Studying, $20 million
- Vendor: McGraw-Hill StudySync, $4.2 million
Science Core Tutorial Supplies for college years 2025-26 to 2027-28
- Vendor: Amplify Training, $20 million
- Vendor: Kendall Hunt, $3.7 million
- Vendor: SAVVAS, $7.9 million
Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org.