After a pilot program in the fall semester, Indian Prairie School District 204 elementary schools will be fully adopting a new, comprehensive English language arts resource program for the 2024-25 school year.
The resource, called SAVVAS – My View Literacy, was unanimously approved for use by the district’s Board of Education on Monday. A six-year license for the program will cost the district just under $3.3 million and will include both digital and physical resources for teachers and students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
At an earlier meeting on Jan. 22, teachers and others in the district who led or participated in the pilot program spoke to the board about the advantages of the new resource.
“The biggest thing that I’ve seen from this program is the deep and authentic conversations that our students are having,” said Lauren Gresher, a fourth-grade teacher. “The program really has this great way of lending itself to these inquiry-based opportunities and learning.”
Kaylie Lewkowski, a second-grade teacher, said at the meeting that the program gives teachers many resources, letting teachers be creative with lesson planning when they want or giving them structure when they are unsure about what to do next.
SAVVAS – My View Literacy was chosen from a group of four resource programs according to criteria developed by a committee of 40 elementary-grade teachers from the district, District 204 Literacy Coordinator Charmonique Joiner said at the Jan. 22 meeting.
The program then went through a semester-long pilot, during which 80 teachers, representing all grade levels and district elementary schools, got hands-on experience with the resources in their classrooms and were supported by experts from the company.
During the pilot, the resource program “knocked it out of the park like we thought it would,” Elementary Core Curriculum Director Joan Peterson said at the Jan. 22 meeting.
Starting in fall 2024, each classroom will be given both physical and digital resources from the program, including a digital suite for teachers and students, a leveled reader bookshelf collection, guides for teachers and small groups, a teacher assessment package and more.
Gresher called the program a “one-stop shop for all the things that teachers need in that curriculum,” listing topics like reading, guided reading, grammar and inquiry-based learning. She said teachers previously had to go to different resources for different parts of the curriculum.
“Now, this is all just comprehensive, and it’s in one place, so teachers can really focus on what’s important, and that’s the engagement of our students,” Gresher said.
Both Gresher and Lewkowski said the program engages students in a variety of different ways, from its variety of genres to its diversity of subjects, which makes them excited to learn.
The lessons also connect to other elementary curriculum, like science and social studies, which further engages the students, Gresher said.
Now that the Board of Education has approved the resource, an onboarding meeting will be held with all elementary-grade teachers on March 1.
Materials will be delivered over the summer, and optional workshops will be held for teachers who want to get hands-on with the material and a head start on their lesson planning.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com