HPISD Asks for Input on New Science Instructional Materials

HPISD will purchase new science instructional materials for the 2024-25 school year, and the district needs community feedback to help it decide what will work best in the classroom.

The new resources will enable the district to meet updated state standards for science, career technology education, and personal financial literacy and economics courses.

Copies of the potential instructional materials are on display through March 22 during business hours at the HPISD Administration Building, 7015 Westchester Drive, assistant superintendent for education services Jennifer Collins told the district’s board of trustees at its Feb. 13 meeting. 

“We need your feedback,” she said. “We need people to come and tell us what are the things that they like or they don’t like about the different resources.”

Collins explained that community members do not need to be experts in the subject area to provide input. “Maybe you like the layout, or maybe it looks student friendly, or maybe you look at it and say ‘this looks like too many things for a teacher to be able to manage.’ We want feedback moving forward.”

The district winnowed down the prospective instructional materials with the help of teachers, staff members, and a community advisory committee that included experts in the fields of science and engineering, she said.

The instructional materials may be previewed virtually by clicking HERE. The district will bring a final recommendation to the board of trustees on April 2, and the board will vote on whether to approve those recommendations on April 16, Collins said.

In other business at the board’s Feb. 13 meeting:

• Collins told the board that the district’s mathematics instruction framework has been finalized and posted. Click HERE to view the framework. The district is now working to implement the framework in classrooms, including through professional development scheduled for Monday, Feb. 19. 

• Collins said that the district has purchased The Bedford Handbook, a grammar resource, for use in its secondary classrooms. Next, it will ensure its grammar curriculum builds on students’ knowledge as they progress through the grades, and it will offer teachers grammar professional learning.

• Scott Drillette, HPISD’s assistant superintendent for business services, said that the district is preparing for bond community advisory committee meetings and determining its campus and program needs and wants.