Education Department Awards Contracts For Development Of English Language Arts And Math Curricula

State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. today announced that four contracts have been awarded to develop pre-kindergarten through fifth grade curricular materials with associated professional development aligned to the New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards. The contracts, valued at $12.9 million, will be funded from New York State’s federal Race to the Top (RTTT) funds.

"The goal of the Regents Reform Agenda is to make sure every student graduates from high school college- and career-ready,” Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said.  "The combination of truly effective teachers and high quality, sequenced curriculum aligned to the Common Core is the best way to meet that goal. These contracts, funded from New York’s RTTT funds, will provide our teachers with rigorous curricula our students need to meet the Common Core Standards."

"New York is moving forward to meet the provisions of our RTTT application," Commissioner King said.   "Teachers will be able to follow or build on the curricular materials produced by these three vendors.  The materials will provide a carefully sequenced road map for districts to adopt or adapt. The Board of Regents has set out an aggressive reform agenda to improve teaching and learning.  These contracts are an important step toward implementing that reform agenda and helping our students grow."

The four contracts awarded:

• Core Knowledge Foundation was awarded the pre-kindergarten through grade 2 curriculum contract in English Language Arts (ELA) & Literacy and will be responsible for building Common Core aligned curriculum materials and associated professional development resources as well as associated professional development. Core Knowledge Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization that develops curricula, publishes educational books and materials and provides professional development for educators. 
• Expeditionary Learning was awarded the curriculum contract in ELA & Literacy and will be responsible for building Common Core aligned curriculum materials and associated professional development resources for grade 3 through grade 5. Expeditionary Learning partners with schools and districts to open new schools and transform existing schools by providing school leaders and teachers with professional development and curriculum planning resources, and new school structures.
• In mathematics, Common Core, Inc. was awarded two contracts to provide pre-kindergarten through grade 5 Common Core aligned curriculum materials and associated professional development resources.  Common Core, Inc. creates curriculum tools and also promotes programs, policies, and initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels that provide students with challenging, rigorous instruction in the Common Core Standards.

The new curricula will all be available on EngageNY.org.  The site currently hosts a number of ELA and math exemplars. Work on these contracts will begin upon approval by the Office of the State Comptroller.  All modules, grades P-5, will be completed by the summer of 2013.  King said vendors will work closely with New York State teachers and administrators to develop the curricula.

King said SED recently issued an RFP for curriculum models and associated professional development for Grades 6-12 aligned to the New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards in ELA and Mathematics.  The award of the contracts is anticipated later this spring.