GILROY
– Changes in Gilroy High School’s English program, set in motion
last fall, will be presented to parents Tuesday night.
English department staff will discuss two textbooks that were
piloted this semester at the recommendation of a reading list task
force that convened last year, as well as changes to the reading
list.
GILROY – Changes in Gilroy High School’s English program, set in motion last fall, will be presented to parents Tuesday night.
English department staff will discuss two textbooks that were piloted this semester at the recommendation of a reading list task force that convened last year, as well as changes to the reading list.
“We’re going to go over the criteria that we used to judge and evaluate the different series, talk about the plusses and minuses of the series and give a conscientious recommendation on why we thought the McDougall-Littell series would be better than Prentice Hall for our students,” said Jacki Horejs, assistant superintendent of Gilroy Unified School District.
Currently, there is no series of textbooks that is used consistently for ninth through 12th grades. Parents and district officials have focused on adopting a textbook for ninth and 10th grades, to provide more structure for the curriculum.
A group of GHS English teachers across all grades and instructional levels gave both the McDougall-Littell and Prentice Hall textbooks a trial run this semester. The materials will be available at the meeting and are displayed in a portable classroom near the entrance of the GHS campus for both teachers and the public to review.
A preliminary version of next year’s core and supplementary reading lists will also be presented at the meeting.
“We’d like to let parents look at it, we’d like to get their feedback on it, and then we can take all that input into consideration before we go before the board next month,” Horejs said.
The school board approves the reading list each May. Last year’s approval turned contentious when students went before the board to defend books that some parents were asking to be taken off the list. A Reading List Advisory Group of teachers, parents and students was formed to examine the book list last fall. After deciding to pilot textbooks, the group created a list of criteria for selecting books, but postponed approving a new reading list until a textbook was chosen.
Horejs said there are no advisory group meetings scheduled, but depending on parent feedback tomorrow night, there may be more informal parent forums to adjust the list before it goes to the school board.
The parents meeting will be held in the GHS Library Tuesday, from 7 to 8 p.m.
