Carlsbad Municipal Schools begins the process of adopting a new language arts curriculum

Carlsbad Municipals Schools held a public meeting on Monday to introduce and discuss the new K-12 English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum which is being considered for adoption.

"We want to be sure to incorporate your (the public's) voice and perspective into the adoption process," an announcement from the district stated.

At the meeting parents and teachers got a chance to access demos of what the new materials would look like.

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CMS Director of Curriculum & Instruction Jennifer Tsaid that parents would be able to access everything a student works on through an online portal available in both English and Spanish.

Families would be able to view class materials, and assignments in both languages side by side.

According to the United States Census Bureau, roughly 19% of residents in Eddy County speak Spanish as a primary language at home.

The District stated it is weighing multiple factors as part of the adoption of new curriculum including offering support to multi-language learners, ensuring the materials align with state standards and ensuring it is rigorous and engaging for students.

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In 2021 the New Mexico Public Education Department adopted new ELA standards for kindergarten through eighth-grade students. A year prior, the New Mexico Public Education Department adopted new standards for high school students.

These updates included new instructional materials for Spanish Language Arts, English language development and world languages.

Timme said COVID-19 delayed CMS' adoption of the new curriculum.

One of the district's top priorities for its ELA standards is to provide equity for all students by providing digital and hard copies of the new material, offering support for Spanish-speaking families and identifying students who need additional support, according to an announcement provided during the meeting.

In 2020 the PED launched Structured Literacy New Mexico — a statewide initiative that will be implemented into the curriculum — to increase reading proficiency and reduce the number of students requiring special education services in the state.

Structured literacy is an umbrella term used to describe evidence based-approaches for teaching students to read and write proficiently, according to CMS.

Claudia Silva is a reporter from the UNM Local Reporting Fellowship. She can be reached at csilva2@currentargus.com, by phone at 575-628-5506 or on Twitter @thewatchpup.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Carlsbad schools begin process to adopt new language arts curriculum