Administrators detail study and revamping of Malden Public Schools curriculum over past two years

Group of MPS educators challenged content, origin and implementation of Amplify literacy curriculum

By Steve Freker

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ligia Noriega-Murphy on Monday night led a detailed presentation that included an explanation of the origin and up-to-date status of the Amplify ELA and CKLA curriculum in Grades K-8 in the Malden Public Schools (MPS).

According to information provided on the website amplify.com, Amplify ELA is English Language Arts (Grades 6-8) and Amplify CKLA is Core Knowledge Language Arts (Kindergarten-Grade 5) – “a comprehensive program for teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking while also building students’ vocabulary and knowledge across essential domains in literature, world and American history, and the sciences.”

The presentation was made at the regular Malden School Committee meeting held in the City Council Chamber at Malden City Hall Monday night.

Malden educators had expressed concerns with Amplify

At a previous School Committee meeting, held on October 2, several educators from Malden K-8 schools expressed concerns over what they called inappropriate materials being used as part of the Amplify curriculum, particularly in Grades 6-8 ELA programs. In the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting, several other MPS educators were critical of the English Learner (EL) content of the Amplify curriculum.

Using a series of informational slides, Superintendent Noriega-Murphy on Monday described the steps that were taken at the origination phase of the curriculum selection process, as well as achievements made by the district in the course of examining the previous curriculum, then employing a new strategy toward standardization. Contrary to the criticism of the Amplify curriculum, Supt. Noriega-Murphy, in the course of a detailed, lengthy presentation Monday night, stated that Malden Public Schools has been called a “model district” by Amplify representatives for the MPS implementation, and Malden has had many signs of success with Amplify, she stated.

Supt., executive team, found curriculum “lacking”

She explained that when the central administration team were hired to lead the MPS district beginning in 2021, they studied the curriculum in place and found it lacking, primarily, she said, because a standardized curriculum for ELA was not in place for Grades K-8. Supt. Noriega-Murphy showed results of that finding regarding the curriculum, in her slide presentation. During the 2021-22 academic year, she and her Executive Team found:

— Inconsistency of teaching and learning across grade levels, same subjects and within school on curriculum implementation due to lack of district curricula.

— Students at each school were having different learning experiences and were exposed to different learning.

— Teachers were creating their own curriculum.

— K-8 schools had different schedules and offered different minutes for core courses.

— There were EL students with developing proficiencies who spent a period, several periods, or the entire day not in classes with their same grade level peers and not exposed to grade level curriculum.

Implementation and installation of Amplify

Dr. Noriega-Murphy said that she and her team undertook the implementation and installation of the Amplify curriculum as part of an overall strategy to have the Malden district’s curriculum reach “alignment and coherence” and, according to a statement, “use and follow the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks (Standards) to provide educators, students and their families with clear and shared expectations to what all students should know and be able to learn by the end of each year.”

The statement continued: “[Strategy includes a goal to] ensure that all students have access to consistent grade-level, standards-based, high-quality curriculum with high-quality materials, and high-quality instruction.”

The theme of MPS, based on this strategy and goals, as stated is: “Every student—Every Classroom—Every Student—Every Day!”

Educator and student achievements followed

As part of the process of standardizing the curriculum across the district, the Superintendent pointed to the following achievements, stated in the slide presentation, citing that the MPS district has in the past two years:

— Created a coherent and transparent Program of Studies to support students and families/caregivers having access to what students are expected to learn at each grade level, each subject and at each school. Transparency and Communication are at the crux here, as stated.

— Invested in curricula that is standards-based and aligned all assessments to the standards.

— Set clear expectations for teaching and learning.

— Set clear benchmarks and interventions to support our students.

— Groups of educators developed explicit curriculum maps, scopes and sequences of skills that are in the Program of Studies.

— For Multilingual students and Special Education, we aim every day to create a more inclusive, assets-based model where students fully engage in their school communities, and this community engagement provides the fuel for their academic, linguistic and social emotional development.

— We aligned the Time of Learning for all courses based on DESE [Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] recommendations.

MPS leaders: Amplify is in wide use internationally

Supt. Noriega-Murphy explained the Amplify literacy curriculum for the K-8 classrooms is in its second year of implementation and then was assisted by MPS Director of ELA/World Language and Assistant Supt. Ellen Rojas-Kelleher in detailing the tenets of the Amplify curriculum and its widespread use (schools in all 50 states; over 4,000 schools; internationally in use in six continents). The Superintendent also recalled a timeline of the research, data and survey collection and curriculum selection committee makeup, citing that the district went to great lengths to be inclusive in comprising the committee, then being responsive to comments, insight and feedback made by the committee.

The Curriculum Selection Committee that ultimately settled on Amplify consisted of 11 Malden Public Schools teachers, eight administrators, 15 caregivers, two School Committee members and four Malden High School students, the Superintendent reported. That 40-member, citywide group then made final recommendations to the Superintendent, the Executive team and School Committee members, with the School Committee taking the final vote. Five subcommittees were formed; the curriculum was piloted and extensive reports and feedback were elicited from those educators who piloted it, it was stated in the presentation. The presentation stated Amplify was overwhelmingly selected with approval following the detailed screening process, and the district moved ahead with its purchase, which surpassed $500,000 for a multiyear contract, according to reports.

Positive feedback for Amplify

According to Supt. Noriega-Murphy, the feedback she and her executive team has received included:

— “Students love the topics they are learning about!”

— Teachers have commented about how students’ writing has improved because they have more to write about (i.e., in response to text rather than open-ended prompts).

— Students are using the vocabulary they are learning from the curriculum in their discussion and writings.

— Amplify representatives have visited Malden schools and called MPS a “model district” for implementation.

— Amplify has asked MPS to host other districts for on-site observation here in the curriculum adoption process.