District committee recommends Really Great Reading paired with Arts & Letters; board to consider adoption at voting meeting

A district review committee recommended that Upper Darby adopt a combined elementary English language arts program — Really Great Reading paired with Arts & Letters — following a year‑long pilot of two candidate programs.

“ The committee's recommendation is for Really Great Reading with Arts and Letters,” Ms. O'Neil said, summarizing the pilot results. The district ran a pilot involving 44 volunteer teachers from across the 10 elementary schools and evaluated materials for alignment with the state's newly emphasized science of reading and structured literacy requirements.

The recommendation pairs Really Great Reading, which administrators said focuses on systematic phonological and phonemic instruction, with Arts & Letters, which the committee described as providing authentic text engagement, discussion and writing opportunities that target higher‑order comprehension and academic language.

Presenters outlined a multi‑year implementation plan with professional development beginning in the implementation year (February full‑day PD and follow‑up in May, plus summer planning time) and classroom materials for teacher and student use. The committee presented a six‑year total cost estimate of roughly $2.9 million for the combined adoption and said first‑year implementation expenses were shown on the slides (administration noted transcription errors in the spoken dollar amounts and clarified the six‑year total was the material figure to be used for planning).

A classroom teacher who participated in the pilot told the board the materials increased student engagement and confidence, urging the board to support the adoption. The board reached consensus to move the textbook adoption to a formal voting meeting for action.

Next steps: the district will present a formal adoption item and detailed budget estimates at the scheduled voting meeting for the board’s vote.