updates

First and foremost, the Needham Literacy Coalition supports and trusts our teachers. We are a grassroots group of parents advocating for better literacy curricula in our schools.

 

We have no agenda other than to improve literacy outcomes for our children and to close persistent achievement gaps.

 

We are responding to the misrepresentations and inaccuracies in the article published by The Needham Observer:

 

1. In its discussion of the “literacy controversy,” the author failed to represent the experiences of the most important stakeholder of all, NPS students. By not engaging with students and their families across the district – including the more than ⅓ of Needham elementary students who struggle to learn to read and write – the article ultimately misses the point. The decision to omit students’ stories, including investigating the emotional toll and financial burden that the families of struggling readers face is curious. Students are of course at the center of our schools, and their experiences learning to read and write is centrally important.

 

2. The Needham Literacy Coalition was not formed because of “the popular 2022 Sold a Story podcast.” It was formed because Needham’s elementary literacy pilot included Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study. Furthermore, at that time, while four curricula were being piloted, only one was deemed “high quality” by the Massachusetts Dept of Secondary and Elementary Education (DESE).

 

3. NLC was also formed because we learned NPS had purchased the Revised Units of Study, a curriculum in the pilot, for all teachers to use despite the fact that the pilot was ongoing. They made this purchase despite acknowledging in the FY 2026 budget “our current curriculum is not recommended by the State of Massasachusetts and has even been banned in some states like New York due to its inability to support all students and adequately incorporate research based strategies… Our current curriculum materials are not aligned with research-based, science of reading elements and practices. The District has done well to supplement the base curriculum with a series of add-on components, leading to teacher frustration and overwhelm and an incoherent experience for students.” (NPS FY26 School Department Operating Budget, pg 116).

 

4. The petition signatures were collected from the Needham Public School community, including METCO families who reside outside of Needham. Change.org auto-populates a person’s physical location in real time when signing the petition, not their residential address. Any member of the NPS community could have signed the petition while at work, for instance. Change.org uses prefilled geolocation based on where your device is located to assign a zip code to the signer. Given that Dedham is on our border, the obvious assumption is that the location tag is a bit off.

 

5. The article downplays inequities. Stark disparities exist in Needham for low-income, Black, and students with IEPS compared to their peers. For instance, nearly 70% of low-income NPS elementary students are not proficiently literate (MCAS, 2024). In fact, in the NPS, the achievement gap between low-income students and their peers is twice that of the rest of the state.

 

6. The article is correct in saying there is not a “list of DESE-approved curriculum.” But DESE does review curriculum and designates some as being high quality to help districts choose new curricula. The two pilot curricula that are defined as high-quality are ARC and Fishtank.

 

7. We believe that, consistent with state law, the school committee should approve the curriculum selected by NPS because it will constitute a “system-wide” curricula change. School committee members have the responsibility of approving a budget that only includes an evidence-based literacy curriculum. Consistent with NPS policy the school committee should ensure the chosen curriculum is aligned to educational research and meets state standards.

 

The journalist emailed the NLC a day before she claimed this article was set to print. NLC chose to issue a statement rather than participate in a rushed interview.

However, we are surprised by the negative portrayal of parents who are simply advocating for their children and those of Needham. We are not in a position of power; we turned to public comment and social media after private conversations with stakeholders led to no progress.

 

We’ve consistently had 2 asks:

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1. Replace Units of Study with a high-quality curriculum

2. Support our teachers as they make this transition

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Importantly, we don’t blame our teachers for the literacy challenges. This is a systems issue that should be addressed by leadership, in collaboration with teachers and parents. Since our advocacy began the administration has also added another DESE-defined high-quality curriculum to the pilot, Fishtank. We are thrilled with this addition.

 

We believe the nearly 400 signatures on our petition means other parents and community members have similar concerns with our reading and writing curriculum. This is backed up by a recent statewide poll showing 84% of parents believe Massasachusetts schools should be required to use evidence-based reading curricula.

 

Since we have children currently in elementary schools across the district we disagree with the administration's timeline as we finish year 3 of the pilot and move into year 4. While we believe in a careful and thoughtful selection process, we also believe there is great urgency to act. We are advocating for a curriculum, which is described by NPS as having an “inability to support all students and fails to adequately incorporate researched based strategies”, to be removed from our classrooms and replaced with a high-quality literacy curriculum before more harm is done to our emerging readers and writers.

 

 

 

Zoom with Christine Cronin, interviewed on Sold a Story, on March 13 at 8:15pm. 

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Christine Cronin, Executive Director of Elementary Academics at Boston Public Schools will zoom with NLC on Thursday March 13 at 8:15 pm. Christine was interviewed as a teacher in Sold a Story. She will be discussing how she transitioned from teaching using a balanced literacy approach to a high-quality knowledge-building curriculum. Christine is also an advocate for removing Units of Study in her children's school district.

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Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84586194442?pwd=oJ5rZFTL4tA3EAibH2qAp7ESZy5oOE.1

Meeting ID: 845 8619 4442
Passcode: 725896

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Zoom with Katie Megrian, the Director of English Language Arts at Brooke Charter Schools in Boston, on March 14 at 10am. 

 

She will speak with the NLC about her experiences implementing Fishtank Plus (a knowledge-building, high-quality curriculum recently added to the NPS pilot) in her schools.

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Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89800353703?pwd=OmYBUWjiPC9ObnuQ1EX4NWbYkbySBY.1
Meeting ID: 898 0035 3703
Passcode: 207023

NPS posted a pilot update announcing encouraging early results from the knowledge-building curricula in the pilot. As a result, they are adding Fishtank, another knowledge-building curriculum that DESE deems high-quality. 

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We at NLC are encouraged by these findings and we encourage NPS to further explore EL Education, another knowledge building curriculum that fully meets state expectations. 

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We continue to request that all versions of Units of Study be removed from the pilot and fully eliminated from the NPS literacy program in Fall 2025. 

NPS held a Literacy Gallery Forum to present an update on their ongoing curricula pilot. During the forum they showcased materials from the 4 curricula and had an opportunity to speak to teachers and literacy specialists who were implementing the pilots. 

NPS has an online form for all parents, whether you attended the pilot or not, to fill out through the month of February. Please take a moment to fill out their feedback form!

We have some suggested language you can use for the online form:

1. What are you looking for in a high-quality literacy curriculum?

We want a curriculum that "meets expectations" according to DESE.

2. What thoughts, questions, and concerns do you have about PROGRAMS being piloted this year?

Units of Study and Collaborative Classroom curricula have not been reviewed by the state. Benchmark Advance doesn't fully meet state expectations. Only ARC meets DESE expectations. However, ARC is very expensive and will require a long implementation timeline. We want a program that: meets DESE expectations,  is implemented by Fall 2026, and includes adequate teacher training and support. 

3. What thoughts, questions, concerns do you have about about the NPS literacy review and selection PROCESS?

We do not like that ARC is the only pilot curriculum that meets DESE requirements. If the pilot needs to be extended, curricula that do not meet state expectations should be removed and replaced with curricula that are defined as high-quality by the state.

4. Is there anything else you would like us to consider about literacy teaching and learning in the Needham Public Schools?: 

We want Units of Study and the BAS assessment system out of our classrooms as quickly as possible. 

Sign Our Petition

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We are calling for the following changes to ensure all students receive a high-quality, evidence-based literacy education:

1. Replace current curricula with high quality, budget friendly, grant eligible curricula. 

2. Provide strong professional development for our teachers while maintaining a supportive environment as they make this shift.