West Linn-Wilsonville School Board approves new middle and high school reading and writing curriculum

The West Linn-Wilsonville School District has completed its literacy curriculum adoption for all students.

Coming on the tail of the elementary school literacy adoption in March, the middle and high school teams presented their curriculum adoption recommendations during the Monday, June 10 meeting of the West Linn-Wilsonville School Board.

For middle school learners, Houghton Miller Harcourt’s Into Reading was selected while myPerspectives by the publisher Savvas was chosen for high schoolers.

The process for middle and high school English Language Arts adoption teams included reviewing data and research, meeting with publishers, evaluating different curriculums and, finally, selecting the reading and writing curriculums that they thought best fit the needs of the district.

An important factor for both adoption teams was having scaffolded materials — curricula that utilize summaries and graphic organizers for stories — and culturally responsive materials, which are especially important for multilingual learners at all grade levels.

While shifting publishers between middle and high school may seem surprising, the district adoption teams found that myPerspectives provided better resources for multilingual learners and students with individualized education plans.

There are many similarities between the K-5 and 6-12 curricula — literacy best practices, research, Department of Education criteria and materials — and some key differences. At the middle and high school levels, instructors have more opportunities to use secondary and supplemental materials with students.

“WLWV middle and high school language arts teachers started working with the Oregon Writing Project at Lewis & Clark College in 2013. Each summer a large percentage of district teachers participated in week-long sessions of professional learning that integrated reading and writing instruction and then developed standards-based curriculum units,” the board agenda memo said.

Following the completion of the ELA curricula adoptions, the school district has shifted its focus to math program curriculum adoption for K-5.

“I want to thank you for the energy that goes into the adoption process,” board member Dan Schumaker said to the teams.