For Parents

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To UMASD K-6 families:

Welcome to the 2025-26 school year!  This year we are trying out, or piloting, 3 different publishers’ programs for our English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in grades Kindergarten through 6th grade.  

These programs are:

• Into Reading (K-5) and Into Literature (6) by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
• Emerge! (K-5) and StudySync (6) by McGraw Hill 
• Arts & Letters (K-6) by Great Minds

Teachers who are not piloting one of these 3 new programs will continue to use Wonders by McGraw Hill as the main ELA resource.  All K-2 teachers will continue to use Heggerty to teach phonemic awareness (sounds) and FUNdations to teach phonics.  Your child’s teacher at Back to School Night can let you know if they are participating in this ELA pilot or not.

Parents and families can review these pilot materials in person at the school district administration building (435 Crossfield Rd, King of Prussia) on Monday, September 15, 3 PM – 6 PM.  That evening the district will hold our Curriculum and Instruction meeting with the School Board virtually at 7 PM.  Families can also examine materials by appointment by emailing akuhn@umasd.org. 

Pilot programs will be evaluated based on teachers’ and students’ experiences and academic achievement in fluent word recognition, language comprehension, and writing.  The evaluation process is based largely on Scarborough’s Reading Rope.  Pilot teachers will be supported through the process by the publishers and our administrative team.  By the end of January, the team of pilot teachers and administrators will make a recommendation to the Superintendent and the Board for the 2025-26 school year.

Thank you for your support of these various ELA programs this fall.

Sincerely,

Dr. Andrew Kuhn, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Humanities
Upper Merion Area School District
akuhn@umasd.org
610-291-1763