Committee backs 12'week social studies pilot at Kennedy Middle School

The teaching and learning committee voted to recommend a 12'week pilot of the Savas social studies resource at Kennedy Middle School after teachers identified the resource's student'centered tasks and online platform as strengths.

Mister Mysiak said the middle'school social studies team evaluated several publishers and chose Savas for its instructional tasks and usability. "They they thought it was the most effective approach," Mysiak said of the team's selection. The pilot plan will collect teacher evaluation rubrics, student feedback via focus groups and classroom observations; the district will review the full resource content even though classroom pilots will span 12 weeks.

Committee members asked how to limit differences between students who pilot the resource and those who do not; Mysiak said vendors often extend pilots and the district can align piloted units with the established scope and sequence to keep major concepts consistent across sections.

The committee approved a motion to forward the pilot plan with a positive recommendation to the full board; the pilot is expected to provide evidence for any later scale'up decisions.