10/7/25 - Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting

Minutes of the 

Monson School Committee

Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting

Date: October 7, 2025

Present: Alison Morgan (Chair), Jamie Murphy, Paul Foster 

 Ms. Morgan called the meeting to order at 5:04 PM

Meeting information: 

1. Process and timeline for review of 6-8 PE & Health Curriculum Frameworks

   1. looked at what they do and do not currently teach. Appears there was more for grade 6 and not enough for 7 & 8

   2. Looking at most topics in 8th grade and some in 7th

   3. Right now 6th grade is not doing health due to the social emotional needs of students and the need for counselors to do counseling. In the 5th and 6th grade health block the students are now doing ST Math (once a week per class) 

2. Discussion of ELA curriculum review process

   1. Wonders is current curriculum; only online resource; looking for something new

   2. HQIM (high quality instructional materials) through DESE; meetings to share tools, resources and process for choosing a new curriculum

   3. Looking for a team to review this process including teachers, interventionist, special ed teacher, ELL teacher. Will look at data and resources out there. 

   4. want to find something aligned with appleseeds and empowering writers. 

   5. Goal is to choose a K-8 curriculum for next year. Either pilot next year or fully implement next year depending on the process and findings. 

   6. There will be one time costs to purchase and then annual consumables costs

3. Discussion of Science curriculum decision points

   1. Currently using open scie-ed (K-5 & 6-8) and PLTW (1 & 3 grades using- project lead the way). For next year, want to pick one. 

   2. PLTW was reported by teachers to be more hands-on and engaging. 

   3. doing a cost analysis on each to make a decision of where to go from here. 

4. Discussion of formative assessments

   1. IXL is currently being used for formative assessments

   2. Contract ends at the end of this year

   3. Currently have reveal math, looking into ELA options, most curriculums already have assessments (reveal math does)

   4. Need to look at how the reveal math assessment does at gathering information. If it gets us the information we need, it would make sense to use something we already have. 

   5. Will look into pricing of MAP testing. Benefit of this would be the alignment of all grade level standards and gives information of where student focus needs to be and data can be used to help predict how students will perform on MCAS

5. Update on curriculum mapping

   1. CHALK program through power school; shows every grade and subject and what standards and if there are particular materials used. 

   2. Looking at grades 7-12 or 9-12 having a standard syllabi to include standards and units being addressed in each class. Would post on district website

   3. Look at K-8 curriculum ELA, Math, Science to share the standards and resources. For K-8 other subjects can create a curriculum map to post on district website

6. Update on 9-12 Health curriculum mapping

   1. Will be creating a template for teachers to use for syllabi to share with parents and on website to show what standards are being addressed in the course. 

Next Steps: 

1. Will look at 6-8 Health proposal and share with curriculum subcommittee

2. District will look at cost analysis Science K-5 curriculum

3. District will look at new ELA curriculum K-8

4. Look at template for 9-12 and some 7/8 courses for syllabi to outline standards and unit focus of class

5. Look at K-8 curriculum mapping based on curriculum being used in each grade level and for those subjects without a core curriculum, will create mapping. 

The meeting was adjourned at 6:04 PM

Documentation for this meeting:

Agenda

Distributed at meeting:

Approved by Committee:

Peter Wiggins, Secretary