An investigation by the Oregon Department of Education found that what Springfield School District students are being taught in two subjects doesn’t meet state standards.
The investigation found that the district’s curriculum for elementary science and social science is below standards set in 2020.
A report explaining the findings said the rule that lays out standards “requires school districts to have a planned instructional program, and a planned instructional program includes instructional materials.”
The report states that the district is already working under a department-approved corrective action plan, and the district is adopting a new curriculum that meets standards next school year.
But when a then-teacher filed a complaint with the district about the curriculum on Nov. 10, 2023 “the District had not formally adopted instructional materials for K-5 science or social science from the State Board of Education’s list of approved instructional materials or through the independent adoption process.”
Those standards were to be adopted no later than Fall 2024 for science and Fall 2026 for social science.
At issue was the district’s use of materials covering science and social science that came from the English Language Arts curriculum that the district bought, as well as other supplemental materials.
“Based on the record developed in this investigation, ODE cannot say that the materials cover the required content and skills for K-5 science and social science. The District is, therefore, out of compliance [with the state law],” the report said.
The report states that the district is already working under a department-approved corrective action plan, and the district is adopting a new curriculum that meets standards next school year.
The former Springfield teacher who filed the complaint that led the state to investigate the district’s curriculum said he was concerned about what elementary students were learning when he came to the district in 2005, when he noticed that students in his new middle school were behind where students were at the Silicon-Valley-area school he taught at before.
“And so as I started to dig into the state standards, I noticed that there was this disconnect between what the standards said and what the kids were receiving,” he said.
Neither Springfield School District nor the Oregon Department of Education returned KLCC’s requests for comment on Friday.
