7.15.2026 Fall River School Committee- Instructional Sub Committee

The Fall River School Committee's Instructional Subcommittee met to discuss a series of curriculum and program updates. The committee reviewed five proposed amendments to the Durfee High School program of studies, including changes to heritage language, CTE, and ESL courses. A proposal to pilot a double-block Algebra 1 support class for 9th graders sparked considerable debate, with committee members expressing concern over its effectiveness and impact on student schedules, ultimately suggesting alternatives like summer programs or project-based learning. The committee voted to refer the full slate of amendments for further consideration.

The subcommittee also approved significant changes to digital learning platforms to improve efficacy and reduce costs. They endorsed a plan to scale back the use of Lexia Core 5, focusing it on grades 1 and 2 while eliminating it for kindergarten and grades 3-5, saving over $70,000. They then approved using $44,000 of those savings to adopt the iReady ELA assessment platform, which is already used for math, to gain more actionable student data. Additionally, the committee discussed discontinuing the underutilized Lexia English program ($125,000 cost) and the professional development component of the Elevation platform ($48,000 cost), resulting in substantial savings.

Other items referred for approval included a pilot of the EL Education ELA curriculum in several elementary classrooms, the purchase of OpenSciEd kits to expand hands-on science in grades K-5, funding for Responsive Classroom social-emotional learning training, and a corrected budget for the Building Blocks preschool curriculum. All items put to a vote were referred unanimously to the full school committee.

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