News Photo by Reagan Voetberg From left to right, Alpena Public Schools K-5 Director of Curriculum Stephanie Piper, Stephanie Shafto, fifth-grade teacher at Besser Elementary, and Danielle Dasher, third-grade teacher at Ella White, speak to the board of education about the process of finding a new K-5 math curriculum for the district.

ALPENA — Alpena Public Schools is hoping to adopt a new elementary math curriculum from Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt (HMH) pending a vote by the school board on Monday.

The district has been using the Heinemann Math Expressions curriculum for at least the past 10 years, APS K-5 Director of Curriculum Stephanie Piper said. They also use Imagine Math as a digital supplemental component.

Piper released a request for competitive proposals to curriculum vendors on March 17. The proposal included minimum requirements for curriculum companies to review before submitting a bid. For instance, instructional materials in all formats including print and digital materials needed to align with Michigan K-12 Standards for mathematics. The four other basic requirements included elementary content and emphasis, pacing and instructional design, assessment, and digital resources/tool requirements.

“We wanted the instruction to be rigorous and balanced, engaging students to create critical thinking and problem solving skills and then also to be able to differentiate instruction for … special populations, whether that be students with disabilities or English language learners,” Piper said.

Danielle Dasher, third-grade teacher at Ella White Elementary, spoke about the curriculum review process and putting together a committee of educators, parents, instructional coaches, and board members.

“We had every aspect that we could think of,” Dasher said. “We had diversity with an intervention coach and a special education coach … We made sure we had every grade level from K through five from various different schools. We had principals there. We had instructional coaches. We had a board member there. We had parents that came and looked at this. We even invited the six through 12 instructional coach because they go beyond K through five.”

Piper said that she, Ella White Assistant Principal Becky Meyer, and Instructional Coach Alicia Gembel went through and looked at the original bids. Out of 13 bids, they narrowed the choice down to nine bids that met the minimum requirements. Those nine curriculum companies were then reviewed by the committee.

Out of those nine companies, the committee found four options that they liked after evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each curriculum. Those four options were Savvas enVision, Eureka/Great Minds, HMH Into Math, and Heinemann Math Expressions.

The committee did a deep dive into those four curricula.

“We were looking at the pacing over the course of the school year, how much direct instruction was happening in each of those curricula,” Stephanie Shafto, fifth grade teacher at Besser Elementary, said. “The guided practice opportunities and dependent practice opportunities, how learning would be differentiated for student groups, how we would accommodate for special populations within those groups, the professional development available to teachers, how usable the curriculum was if you’re a new teacher, how editable the material is if that’s needed and how we can collect and refine data that we are able to glean out of all of that.”

After the deep dive, the committee narrowed the options down to two, which were Savvas and HMH.

“We sat down,” Dasher said. “We took the two curricula. We went grade level by grade level and we talked about it, we discussed it, and then we went ahead and we looked at it during the live presentation when they came in. We had HMH come in the morning and Savvas came in after.”

They received more resources from the two companies after the live presentations and analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of both before ultimately choosing HMH as the best curriculum to fit the district’s needs.

Dasher and Shafto explained what they like about the HMH curriculum.

Dasher said that she liked the clear standards laid out in the curriculum through “I can” statements. The curriculum helps with teacher clarity and guides teachers where they need to go.

It has a strong number sense as well which is an important foundation for when students enter Dasher’s third grade class.

Dasher said that the material is engaging and that the curriculum provides extra materials beyond student workbooks so kids can practice more if need be.

Additionally, HMH offers a program called Waggle for digital learning that links with the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) assessment. Teachers can use students’ test scores to create individual learning pathways for them, Shafto said.

Waggle allows students to practice math skills at two grade levels above or two grade levels below, depending on a student’s ability.

Piper addressed the concern from board members that kids might get too much screen time in class with Waggle since it has a customizable avatar and educational games.

There’s a 90 second window every 24 hours where a student can change the clothes on their avatar, and they can only play games for 20 minutes per week, she said.

Shafto said that lesson plans are easy to follow, no matter whether someone is a new teacher or a substitute. Lessons have a high level of rigor and follow an “I do, we do, you do” format where the teacher presents the information, gives guided practice, and then allows independent practice.

There is also a strong parent component, Shafto said. HMH provides videos that teachers can send to parents that discuss concepts their students are learning in class. Then, if their kid needs help understanding their homework, the parent can help out.

If approved, the curriculum will cost $323,694.35 for five years. In the 2025 through 2026 school year, up to 40 teachers will implement the HMH curriculum. Those teachers will have professional learning in August.

The goal is to have a lower and upper elementary teacher from each building to support year two implementation. Two instructional coaches will receive training throughout the entire school year on the new curriculum.

All K-5 math teachers will use HMH Into Math beginning in the 2026-2027 school year.

All teachers and instructional coaches will have virtual training and trained instructional coaches to support them during professional development days, Team Time, and during instructional coaching cycles. Year one implementers will be available to support staff with implementation.

Whether the HMH Into Math curriculum will be adopted at APS elementary schools will be voted on by the board of education on Monday night. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.