Beverly Subcommittee Approves New K-12 Social Studies Curriculum for Full Committee Vote

BEVERLY — June 10, 2020 — Beverly's curriculum subcommittee voted 7-0 to advance new social studies programs for grades 3 through 12 to the full School Committee. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Flaherty presented three curriculum packages — the Democracy Lab civics program for eighth grade from Primary Source and Generation Citizen, a grades three through five civics pilot also through Primary Source, and TCI Brings Learning Alive for high school US history, replacing a Pearson contract that had run 11 years. High school teacher Paul Casey called TCI's roughly 60 hands-on simulations a tool for teaching history "from every perspective," while eighth-grade teacher Brian praised Democracy Lab's professional learning community component. The subcommittee also voted 6-0 to recommend updated handbook language on discipline for students with disabilities, and heard preliminary remote-learning survey results showing 93 percent of parents reported food sufficiency and 85 percent said teachers demonstrated "a high level of caring and compassion" during the closure.