ELA Instructional Materials Adoption Update

In response to questions about where the district is in the ELA Instructional Materials adoption process, here is a synopsis of the process as a whole:

Spring 2019- Teachers applied to be part of the ELA Instructional Materials Selection Committee.

May 2019- ELA Instructional Materials Selection Committee members were identified.

June 2019- The ELA Instructional Materials Oversight Committee comprised of district leaders, admin, community members, and MNEA leadership met to review MNPS policy and procedures and continued to meet throughout the year.

August 2019- During ELA in-service, teachers were given a survey to identify areas of importance. The survey was also emailed to ensure all ELA teachers had an opportunity to participate. The district received over 900 responses. Areas of importance identified on the MNPS survey were weighted x1.5 on the evaluation tool, with other areas being weighted x1.

September 2019- ELA Instructional Materials Selection Committee began training on use of the evaluation tool to ensure norming of scores. Training continued throughout the 1st semester.

November 2019- The list of approved ELA Instructional Materials was released by the state. Districts could only adopt materials from the approved list. If a district wanted to adopt materials that were not on the approved list, they had to apply to the state for a waiver.

December 4, 2019- The ELA Instructional Materials Selection Committee took an oath in and were approved by the Board of Education. The Tennessee Textbook Commission gave recommendations for ELA Instructional Materials to the State Board of Ed who then voted on the approved materials list.

January 2020- All state approved instructional materials were on display at the MNEA building for MNPS employees and community members to view and provide feedback. MNPS also emailed a document with links to the state approved list and the survey to ensure anyone who was not able to view the materials in person had an opportunity to view them online and provide feedback. There were over 700 survey responses. The responses were compiled and given to the selection teams.

3rd Quarter, 2020- members of the selection team had copies of all state approved materials for their grade level in their classrooms. They taught 1-5 lessons with the materials and asked students for feedback.

April 14, 2020- The selected materials will be presented for the MNPS Board of Ed to approve. The district is asking the Board to validate and honor the teacher recommendations.

May 2020- Training for the approved materials will begin and continue throughout the summer.

Also, of note:

-The State of Tennessee statue allows administrators and district leaders to be part of the instructional materials selection committees.

-MNPS policy states only teachers can be part of the instructional materials selection committees.

-There were four teams of teachers. Each team had 4-6 members. The teams were K-2nd grades, 3rd-5th grades, 6th-8th grades, and 9th-12th grades.

-MNPS classroom teachers have made the selections that will be brought to the Board of Ed for approval on April 14th.

-It is the district’s intent to purchase ELA instructional materials for use beginning school year 2020-2021.

-ELA Instructional Materials are adopted every six year, per state law.

As part of the oversight committee, MNEA was honored to be part of such a thorough instructional materials selection process. All ELA teachers had multiple opportunities to provide feedback throughout the process. The selection teams were trained for several months on how to select materials and on the use of the evaluation tool to ensure calibration of scores. MNEA is confident the teachers on the selection committees made well informed choices that will fit the needs of our district.