MARSHALL — Deciding what educational materials to use at Marshall Public Schools is a never-ending process. Classroom materials need to meet state education standards as well as student needs, said Beth Ritter, director of teaching and learning.

“Our curriculum review cycle is a six-year cycle,” Ritter said. Different school subjects are constantly being put through that cycle.

On Monday, Ritter gave the Marshall School Board an update on the district’s curriculum review process, as well as an overview of some of the science curriculum and resources the district plans to use in coming years.

Ritter said the first three years of the curriculum review cycle focus on researching, developing and then implementing new curriculum plans. During the 2022-23 school year, the subjects of language arts, world language, art, music and science are all in the first three years of the review cycle at MPS, Ritter said.

Meanwhile, years 4-6 of the cycle are used to adjust and evaluate the new curriculum.

Ritter said making changes to school curriculum plans meant first looking at several different factors.

“You’re reviewing your essential standards, essential outcomes, looking at standards. Have the standards changed? Will they be changing?” she said. During this stage, they also evaluate current classroom materials and consider whether they are meeting students’ needs.

“Year two is where we really get to what are our specific needs? Because at the end of year two is when we do the purchasing. When year three begins, that’s when we want them to begin implementing their new resources or curriculum,” Ritter said.

Currently, the district’ science curriculum is in that implementation year. In addition, Ritter said, “This is a unique year for us, because science has new (state) standards.” The new Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) for science will also begin in the 2024-25 school year.

“With that being said, we needed to come up with a transition or a rollout plan,” Ritter said.

Ritter outlined the plan for science curriculum, and went over the classroom resources MPS was using for each grade level. In kindergarten through fourth grade, the district will be implementing learning resources called Mystery Science and Generation Genius.

“They’re not really a curriculum, they are a resource that teachers can use,” she said. Both resources were aligned with state standards and offered ideas for hands-on learning and how to extend science learning at home.

At the middle school level, the fifth grade will be using the National Geographic Exploring Science curriculum.

“They also purchased some hands-on science kits for the kids,” Ritter said.

In grades 6-8, the science curriculum will be using SAVVAS Elevate Science.

Marshall High School and MATEC will use a wider range of science materials. Some of the curriculum materials Ritter included in her presentation were the McGraw Hill Inspire series, as well as different curriculum materials for classes ranging from Advanced Placement biology to honors chemistry, anatomy and physiology, and food chemistry.

Ritter said the planning process is ongoing for Spanish, art, music, and English language arts curriculum in the district. Ritter said they were beginning to study new K-12 standards for language arts, which need to be implemented by the 2025-26 school year. Ritter said the new standards, and emphasis on the science of reading, would be part of a school board work session Monday.

“We’ll identify our strengths and opportunities for improvement,” Ritter said.