This story was written by RPS English teacher, Stephen Straus
On August 23rd, the RPS School Board held a special meeting to discuss the district’s 2022 SOL scores. The results of the district’s SOL scores had been a major topic in our schools after returning from summer break. I felt having a public discussion was merited, as everyone up to the governor had weighed in on the historically low scores, even though there was a lack of clarity on actionable district steps.
As a middle school English teacher, I know the EL Education curriculum is not serving our students. EL Education is aligned with Common Core standards and not the Virginia Standards of Learning. I have also witnessed the curriculum negatively affect RPS’ teacher retention. ELA teachers that I know have changed content areas or left RPS simply to avoid teaching the curriculum.
I signed up to speak at the special meeting. Although I recommended terminating the EL Education curriculum contract in my public comment on August 23rd, I was surprised by School Board member Kenya Gibson’s motion. She motioned to implement internally-developed curriculums for the 2023-2024 school year. Teacher working groups across subject areas were to provide initial recommendations and budget proposals by October 31, 2022. Gibson’s motion recommended phasing out off-the-shelf curriculums at the end of the 2022-23 school year and would have empowered teachers to teach with autonomy and without the fear of being disciplined for deviating from the script. Additionally, the motion required the superintendent to provide retention data for the past three years.
The motion failed on a vote of 5-4. From talking with teachers, parents, and members of the community, the major objections to the motion seems to be around how it was introduced and the lack of time for community input. It is my hope that a similar proposal will be introduced at the School Board meeting on Monday, September 12, at Thomas Jefferson High School at 6:00 pm.
We need to empower teachers. The Richmond Times-Dispatch recently published an opinion piece written by education professors. It states, “Teachers who reported having high levels of autonomy in the workplace and administrative support reported higher levels of morale and job satisfaction. They were significantly less likely to make plans to leave the classroom.” Giving teachers autonomy to do their jobs will help RPS retain current teachers and recruit new ones. Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase curriculum, we could invest that money back into our community.
I have taught the EL Education curriculum since its adoption in 2020. In the spring of 2022, English teachers across several school sites met to discuss alternatives to the EL Education curriculum. We drafted a letter outlining concerns, teacher testimony, and an alternative. We wanted to see a curriculum that was developed by the RPS community. EL Education could even be the foundation for a RPS curriculum as it is open-source and freely available online.
Most importantly, we wanted teachers to have autonomy to make decisions that will meet the unique needs of their students. Teachers know their students best. Teachers go to school to learn how to teach. Superintendent Jason Kamras has stated that teachers should have flexibility, but the messaging from the top gets lost somewhere and varies from building to building. At times, it has felt as though there is a general mistrust of teachers to teach rigorously and to have the ability to make decisions that they know will best benefit their students. Messaging from somewhere in the middle has prioritized the following of a minute-by-minute classroom schedule, or staying on track with the curriculum calendar versus coaching and supporting teachers in more meaningful ways.
The argument in our letter was based around several points:
EL Education is not aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning.
It is not equity-focused. EL Education’s pacing and lack of scaffolds leaves RPS students behind, particularly English Learners and students with exceptionalities. EL Education’s one-size-fits-most isn’t aligned with a district that advocates for equity.
The curriculum’s focus on culturally relevant topics is often superficial.
RPS justified this curriculum to ensure consistency; ultimately, using it will have the opposite effect. High quality teachers will leave RPS. Losing experienced teachers will hurt our ability to deliver high-quality instruction to students.
It is wasteful. We spent millions on resources we cannot use. There are boxes and boxes of DVDs, CDs, and workbooks that are unopened and collecting dust across the district.
Teachers at my school met with Nicole Jones to discuss our concerns with EL Education in the spring of 2022. Nicole Jones facilitated a meeting with district officials as a next step. In late May, we met with district officials to outline our concerns.
The district’s next steps included continuing teacher conversations around the curriculum and allowing teachers to supplement some of the EL Education resources. District specialists proposed meeting with teachers this year to help teachers plan lessons and to help supplement material. We felt our suggestions about dedicating funds for schools based on teacher input to purchase additional resources, including alternative texts or exploring the possibility of developing an alternative curriculum, were not taken seriously. We told district officials that we intended to pursue a School Board policy resolution to terminate the EL Education contract and to develop a curriculum committee led by teachers.
I believe the spirit of Kenya Gibson’s motion reflects what teachers want. My hope is that if a similar proposal is introduced, it would be adopted. Teachers and community members that I have talked with have discussed separating the motion into separate parts:
Motion 1: Teachers will be afforded flexibility in implementing district curriculum within the scope of the Virginia Standards of Learning without punitive intervention from RPS administration, building administration and coaches.
This motion would affirm RPS’ trust of teachers to do their job without fear of reprimand.
Motion 2: Related to the curriculum, RPS will develop a task force to explore developing internally-developed curriculums by the end of the 2022-23 school year. This process will begin by establishing a working group by subject that will provide initial recommendations and budgetary proposals to be included in the Superintendent's proposed budget for 2023-2024. As such, the existing off-the-shelf curriculum may be phased out by the end of this school year.
This motion isn’t much different than Kenya Gibson’s motion. However, it allows for the possibility of keeping the curriculum if a majority of educators that teach it find it to be warranted. Teachers broadly agree that a survey is needed as there are teachers that support the curriculum.
At the end of the day, RPS needs to support teachers by having resources that they can use in their classroom. If the district discontinues the EL Education and Eureka Math contracts but a RPS teacher really thinks that EL Education or Eureka Math are the best curriculum choices for their students, that teacher should be allowed to keep using them. At the same time, teachers should be allowed to teach a different text or use different resources as long as they are aligned to the Virginia Standards of Learning.
I want to see the district support and coach teachers like me instead of penalizing us for trying our best to meet the educational needs of our students. This summer, I spent three weeks taking professional learning courses at Yale University and at the RPS Summer Literacy Institute. I am appreciative of learning opportunities that RPS has given me. I am still growing and learning as a teacher. Throwing a curriculum at me and telling me to teach it doesn’t make me feel valued and won’t necessarily make me a better teacher.
Some of the best lessons that I taught in the last two years were lessons created by my colleagues. Unfortunately, many of my colleagues left English Language Arts and RPS because the demands around the curriculum did not create joy or genuine learning opportunities for them or their students. EL Education made them feel like they didn’t have a voice in their classroom. If RPS adopted a motion similar to Kenya Gibson’s, I would likely continue to teach some of the EL Education material. The idea of being able to select books and stories to meet the needs and interests of my students excites me and would make me feel heard and valued as an educator.
I am planning on speaking at the upcoming School Board meeting on Monday, September 12th at 6:00 pm at Thomas Jefferson High School. I hope educators, parents, and community members will join me to support a motion that will allow teachers to teach and learners to learn.