The Irvine Unified School District is currently in the process of adopting new English Language Arts and English Language Development materials that are scheduled to be implemented in the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year. Last year, in preparation for this change, IUSD established an ELA/ELD Adoption Committee comprised of teachers, site administrators, and district leadership to determine which of these new materials will best serve our students. This group created a timeline for adopting new instructional materials, identified common interests across grade levels, and reviewed publisher materials using an evaluation rubric.
An important next step is occurring right now during this school year. One grade level team at each elementary and middle school in IUSD is piloting two sets of publisher materials. At Woodbury, our second grade classes are participating. These teachers have received ongoing training and support from the district’s Literacy Department and publishers throughout the school year. Although the new materials may look different, including online resources, class work, homework, and parent communications, they are fully aligned to California’s current state standards and meet the expectations for each grade level.
If you would like more information on this textbook adoption process, you may want to attend our next PTA meeting on November 30th or our next School Site Council meeting on November 14th. A presentation will be made on the school district’s textbook adoption process. You may also visit the IUSD ELA/ELD Adoption Website at http://tinyurl.com/Adoption16. Before a final textbook adoption recommendation is brought to the School Board at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, the IUSD ELA/ELD Adoption Steering Committee will review and consider feedback from all IUSD stakeholders.