When Duval schools ditched elementary school textbooks in favor of a new, mostly online curriculum for math and English language arts this school year, parent and teacher complaints piled up. Even some School Board members questioned the decision.
Tuesday, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti tried convincing skeptical board members to buy another set of learning materials — this time for middle school students — with links to the same New York company that helped make its controversial elementary math and reading materials.
Several board members questioned his recommendation, some saying they are less inclined to trust the district’s process for selecting instructional materials after their experience with the elementary materials from EngageNY.
EngageNY’s curriculum has been controversial from the start.
It is largely based on free, online lessons and texts, rather than textbooks and workbooks. Duval adjusted the curricula for local needs, but its students now use paper printouts in binders, rather than books.
Some parents and teachers said youngsters need books, which they can hold, to be engaged more in reading. Board member Becki Couch said she is unhappy that there are no color pictures or workbooks for youngsters, instead they use black and white sheets of paper.
Earlier this year some parents also complained that they can’t help their children with math homework, because the new curricula calls for students to learn a variety of ways to approach and solve math problems rather than use the straightforward formulas their parents had learned. Other parents questioned how age appropriate some of the first-grade and second-grade reading lessons were because they delve into world religions.
“I’m not supportive of it, but it’s the curriculum we have,” said Jason Fischer, a board member. “Is there a plan to make any changes? I think this is something we should discuss.”
Fischer said he knows of several parents who left district schools over curriculum issues.
Vitti said that although there will be some adjustments, including adding grade-level readers and some books to supplement the first- and second-grade materials, the curriculum overall has been successful. He said it is pushing students farther than they would have gone using traditional textbooks.
He added that most Duval elementary teachers polled — 83 percent — believe the new curriculum closely meets the state’s academic standards.
Nevertheless, School Board members said Tuesday the district will conduct a “curriculum audit” of the elementary classroom materials. An as yet unchosen third party will examine the materials to ensure they adhere to state academic standards and are age-appropriate.
Meanwhile, Vitti recommended Tuesday that the School Board buy a new middle school English Language Arts curriculum called Paths to College and Career for use next school year. It would cost the district $1.9 million, he said. Paths comes from Expeditionary Learning, a New York nonprofit which contributed to EngageNY’s curricula.
A group of 26 Duval teachers, parents, administrators and community members overwhelmingly picked it over several other curricula, Vitti said.
Couch said Expeditionary Learning will provide workbooks for students, but she’d prefer another textbook publisher, Houghton Mifflin, which would provide textbooks, online lessons, and other extra materials to help parents and students keep up with lessons.
“It’s the extra things that go along with it that make it a better product,” she said.
Board member Constance Hall asked Vitti if Paths, like the new elementary class work, is “scripted,” meaning teachers must adhere closely to a script for daily class lessons.
Vitti said it is scripted, prompting Hall to add that many elementary teachers are struggling; why subject middle school teachers to similar struggles?
“If they’re struggling, then our kids are not getting the most out of it,” she said, adding that the district should train its teachers more.
Vitti urged the board to give all the new curricula time for students and teachers to get used to them.
“To abandon the direction we’re going in ... would be more hazardous than where we are now,” he said.
The School Board is likely to decide on a curriculum audit in February and a new middle school English curriculum in March or April.