Superintendent Dr. Rivera introduced a district update Tuesday on the multi‑year rollout of high‑quality instructional materials that Chelsea Public Schools purchased largely with ESSER funds and other sources. The district reported $1,700,000 invested in curriculum adoption and described multi‑year implementation across elementary, middle and high school grades.

The presentation by Dr. Tamara Blake Canty of the districts curriculum and instruction team emphasized the districts selection process, vendor professional development and early classroom effects. "High quality instructional materials is basically mean these are the materials that we are going to use to deliver instruction," Dr. Tamara Blake Canty said, adding that the district used a rubric, teacher councils and vendor demonstrations to narrow choices and select materials.

District officials said ESSER funding paid for initial purchases and that vendor‑led professional development is provided in the first year of implementation; teachers were asked to pilot only portions of new curricula in year one before expanding in subsequent years. The district described a two‑tier support approach: tier‑1 materials (the core curricular materials every student receives) and tier‑2 materials for small reading groups to help teachers differentiate instruction.

Officials named several curricular adoptions and where they are being used: Frog Street in pre‑K, Illustrative Math for K–8 mathematics, Reveal for high school math and Fish Tank for K–8 English language arts. The districts dual language Caminos program is using ARC (K–5) and Galleria (grades 6–7); Boston College is writing a thematic unit aligned to Fish Tank, the presentation said. For phonics the district said it is using a curriculum the presenter described as "Phonics to Read In," and added that teachers reported stronger routines and increased student confidence when applying phonics independently.

Dr. Blake Canty said the elementary rollout is in its third year, middle school in its second year and high school implementation occurred earlier than planned and is in its second year of use. "At the elementary level we are in year 3 of implementing," she said. The superintendent and Dr. Blake Canty tied elementary MCAS gains to that longer implementation, saying the district has seen the most MCAS growth at the elementary level where curricular investment started first.

Officials described implementation supports including: vendor professional development in year one; teacher councils to share feedback; family liaison workshops and "pop up" summer sessions in parks that let families try materials and borrow items for home use; and common writing assessments K–8 that the district said show improvement between the first and second administration.

During questions, committee members asked whether high‑quality instructional materials (HQIM) apply to the arts. Dr. Tamara Blake Canty replied that fewer commercial publishers have produced arts curricula, but she said arts teachers still employ high‑leverage instructional practices and that curriculum adoption in arts is a future consideration. Members also asked for more tier‑2 professional development, a need the district said it is addressing in budget and PD planning.

Districtwide indicators cited during the presentation included attendance and mobility figures. Officials reported that grades 1–8 have over 90 percent daily attendance and that the district average is "almost 90 percent." The presenter said the high school dropout rate stood at 3.72 percent (68 students) as of the October 1 enrollment snapshot the district referenced. Mobility numbers presented for February included net changes and cumulative ins/outs by level (kindergarten, elementary, middle, high school) that the presenter summarized as a total of 614 students in and 475 students out for the period, a net difference of 139 students.

Why it matters: district leaders said choosing research‑based HQIM created an instructional foundation that strengthens classroom practice, supports teacher retention and makes the district more competitive for grants. "Because we have research based materials, [funders] are apt to fund us," Dr. Rivera said, noting the curriculum work helped qualify the district for at least one grant the presentation named.

The presentation concluded with an appeal to review teacher anecdotes and implementation feedback and with committee members thanking teachers and staff. District leaders described ongoing work to expand PD, monitor assessments and continue rolling out materials into remaining grades and subjects.

Ending: The committee did not take a formal vote on HQIM at this meeting; the presentation served as an update and to inform budget and professional development planning.