Durango School District 9-R needs a new K-3 reading program to meet state teaching requirements. Not only that, but the district needs to train instructors to teach under the new program, and all of that needs to be accomplished before Aug. 1.

Laurie Rossback, executive director of curriculum instruction and assessment, doesn’t seem too worried, however.

She said the school district submitted plans to choose a curriculum to the state in January.

A slew of state-approved instructional programs are available to school districts. Rossback has been meeting with publishers of approved K-3 programs to sample texts and collect information for a program adoption committee to review.

The state requires evidence-based approaches that implement the science of reading, which Rossback said all of the state-approved programs include.

The science of reading is described by the Colorado Department of Education as the culmination of several decades of research into how students best learn to read.

Rossback said most K-3 teachers are trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach, which she said is an approved reading foundations and phonics program.

The school district is focused on finding which evidence-based and state-approved programs mesh best with the district’s own instructional framework and is made up of “elements of effective instruction.”

Rossback said the district wants a teaching resource that breathes life into reading and writing classroom instruction. The program should provide teachers with proper guidance for high-quality instruction while allowing the teachers enough room to insert their own creativity.

The program should also allow teachers the flexibility to incorporate the district’s own elements of effective instruction. Rossback gave an example of one element as complex thinking and transfer.

“We really want to make sure that a reading and writing resource aims at complexity for students,” she said. “Yes, we are teaching the standards, but we really want to continue to push our students to understand deeply what they are going after, and not just (understand a subject) at a surface level.”

Another critical element of effective instruction is personalization. Instructional programs should provide students with choices and promote agency, she said.

The school district’s elements of effective instruction were developed with Great Schools Partnership, and were localized for its own instruction model, according to the district’s website.

Rossback said the district is also looking for a program that promotes learning across subjects even in English-language arts classes, because many updated English-language arts resources integrate science and social studies.

She is evaluating texts students would read through various programs year-to-year and keeping an eye out for the quality and authenticity of those texts.

“Are the texts culturally responsive?” she said. “Do they support what as a school district we want to stand for in terms of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging?”

Technically, the school district has until Aug. 1 to adopt an instruction program and run instructors through evidence-based training about how to teach reading. But the administration hopes to complete all that by May, she said.

By late February, the program adoption committee will be meeting weekly. Rossback will provide the committee with text samples from programs and members will evaluate pros and cons with each program.

The sooner the committee decides on a program, the more time the district will have to acquire resources and conduct teacher training ahead of the 2022-23 school year.

“The work of the committee really does support and drive the long-term professional development plan, and their feedback becomes very critical,” Rossback said.

She said the committee evaluation will be similar to one being performed for math curricula. A program – Carnegie Math – has been selected for Escalante and Miller Middle schools.

Durango School District high schools are meeting with two final math program publishers and should have their last pick near the start of March. Elementary schools also met with another math publisher on Wednesday.

Rossback should know each new math program selected by early March, she said.

“But it is confirmed that Durango will have a new K-12 mathematics programming next year in all of our schools,” she said.

cburney@durangoherald.com