Carlisle narrows K'3 reading adoption to two programs; pilots planned to meet state mandate

District curriculum staff told the board committees that updated state requirements (Act 47/PDE) obligate Carlisle to adopt a PDE-approved structured-literacy K'3 curriculum by the 2027'28 school year.

"We really wanted to make sure we had a thoughtful plan in place for, piloting to make sure that we were getting, again, a diverse view of what is on the approved list from PDE, in our classrooms and narrow it down to what we think works best for Carlisle," Presenter Ally said, explaining the review and vendor-demonstration process that produced two finalists: CKLA (Amplify) and Benchmark Advanced.

Staff proposed piloting Benchmark Advanced at Hamilton Elementary (one classroom in K, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades) and piloting Amplify CKLA in classrooms across the other buildings, with one additional classroom included to give the district a vertical-alignment pilot. Pilot costs for sample materials/licenses were given as roughly $5,534 for CKLA through Amplify and $6,531 for Benchmark Advanced (pilot classroom-level costs). Staff also warned that a full K'3 implementation could be substantially more expensive: "they will probably range greater than $500,000 by the time we narrow it down and have something for K through 3," Ally said.

The board discussed logistics: professional development days in April and over the summer (roughly 12 hours allocated), vendor-provided coaching during implementation, coverage plans for pilot teachers, and a goal to return a recommendation in time for next year's budget talks. Staff said they had considered other approved programs (Foundations, Heggerty) but those were only PDE-approved as supplemental interventions and therefore could not serve as the required core K'3 program.

What happens next: the board will be asked to approve two pilot agreements next week. Staff will notify participating teachers and finalize grade-level and building assignments before pilots begin.