Justin Evans
Express correspondent
Kingston Public Schools is implementing a new mathematics curriculum for grades K-8 starting next school year, following an extensive review process by a committee of teachers and administrators.
The district has selected HMH (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) as its new math program after comparing it with another highly-rated curriculum option, iReady.
“HMH was the one that was highly rated across the board by the teachers in each one of the categories,” said Assistant Superintendent Tricia Clifford, who presented the curriculum update at the May 5 School Committee meeting.
The curriculum change comes as the district’s contract with enVision, its current K-5 math program, expires this spring. The Big Ideas program used for grade 6 will expire next year.
Committee members evaluated both HMH and iReady using a rubric and rating sheets, with HMH emerging as the clear preference. Teachers noted that students found the HMH lessons “more engaging and easier to access” than the alternative.
“We went with HMH in part because the student usability was much better than the other program we reviewed,” said Brian DeSantes the District’s K-6 Curriculum Coordinator.
The district has already begun planning for implementation, with professional development sessions scheduled for this summer and throughout the next school year.
“Choosing a program is important, but the implementation is as important because that is really where we’re going to see it happen in the classroom,” Dr. Clifford explained.
The initial investment for the new curriculum is included in next year’s budget. While the first year will require the largest expenditure for materials, costs are expected to decrease in subsequent years.
The first year cost for the curriculum is $103,000, but the committee expects that to drop going into years 2 and 3 of the contract.
In other school news, Kingston Elementary School Principal Dr. Kerri Whipple reported that 111 students are currently registered for kindergarten for the upcoming school year.
“I connected with all – majority of the local preschools. I’m visiting two more tomorrow,” Dr. Whipple said. “I send them all the kindergarten information. So I’ve done a ton more outreach than I have before and trying to build those relationships with the local preschools.”
Dr. Whipple expressed enthusiasm about these outreach efforts, stating, “I’m having, like, a blast. I don’t want to leave. It’s, like, the best hour when I get to go there to visit them.”
The elementary school also presented positive data on student achievement. Dr. Whipple reported improvements in reading scores across multiple grade levels.
“If you look at last winter to this winter, we’re at 15% increase, which is awesome,” she said regarding first-grade DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) scores. “And I think that has a lot to do with our literacy instruction.”
“We’re teaching OG [Orton-Gillingham] every single day in every single classroom. We’re doing Hegarty. It’s a huge multisensory approach to learning,” Dr. Whipple explained. “I mean, honestly, I am in there, and I’m learning so much. We weren’t taught this way.”
Kingston Intermediate School (KIS) Principal Andy Materna also presented data showing improvements in reading scores but noted that math remains an area of focus.
“We’ve been static in math. We’ve been static in math for a number of years now, and we’re focused on math,” Materna said.
To address this, KIS has already made adjustments to its schedule to allow more time for math instruction. The new district-wide curriculum is expected to further support these efforts.
Both schools are also enhancing their transition programs for students moving between buildings. KIS and KES are collaborating on a second-to-third grade transition night to help families prepare for the move to the intermediate school.
“I’m really excited for it, to start meeting these families,” Materna said. “I’ve gone over to lunch, to the second grade lunch, to meet those kids and hung out with Mr. G. side-by-side. Just that little bit of facetime with students, little things like that.”
The district is also developing a comprehensive literacy plan focusing on five key areas: leadership, assessment, tiered instruction, professional learning, and family engagement.
“As we embark on something as large scale, as looking at curriculums, looking at professional development, all of these things, it’s very advantageous to have a strategy behind who, what, when, where, and how,” Dr. Clifford explained.
The literacy plan will guide the district as it begins reviewing English Language Arts curriculum options in the fall, with potential implementation in the 2026-27 school year.
In other business, the committee approved making information available about a free DARE summer camp for students entering grades 5 and 6. The camp, sponsored by the Kingston Police Department, will be held July 28 through August 1 at Whitman-Hanson.
The committee also mentioned the need to move scholarship funds into an interest-bearing account to enable the awarding of the Fonts scholarships, which haven’t been distributed for about five years due to lack of interest income.
The last day of school for Kingston students is scheduled for Friday, June 13, with the next School Committee meeting set for July 7.