In November 2021, the SF Parent Coalition hosted SFUSD’s Deputy Superintendent for Instruction, Enikia Ford-Morthel, and Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Nicole Priestly, at a virtual gathering focused on SFUSD’s approach to literacy instruction in our classrooms. In case you missed it, you can watch the video here.
In partnership with the Parent Coalition, the SF Ed Fund hosted a follow-up to this important conversation on Wednesday, April 20. Key takeaways from the discussion include:
- Historically, schools have chosen their own curriculum which has led to a mix of options across the district. The district has engaged The New Teacher Project (TNTP) this year to audit the literacy curriculum that included walkthroughs of 15 schools and an in depth review of several elementary school’s curriculum. TNTP will be sharing the findings on May 9th at the Curriculum and Program Committee meeting. The New Teacher Project has already shared some recommendations on the curriculum and SFUSD is planning to pilot 1-3 options in elementary and EL Education’s curriculum in middle school before landing on a curriculum for elementary and middle school. The district will engage with many teachers and schools for feedback to understand the pros and cons of each option to find the best options for SFUSD kids moving forward.
- The district is also partnering with TNTP to identify assessments that will best align with the future curriculum adoption. Right now, the district is piloting STAR universal literacy screener with tier 2 and tier 1 levels in elementary school. The district is also piloting a new dyslexia screener called Multitudes designed by UCSF at two schools.
- Writing is key to building critical thinking. Any curriculum chosen will have a strong writing component and the district is committed to shining a bright light on writing in a way that students see themselves as authors possible of publishing their own books in the future.
Watch the video here:
