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PreK On My Way Case Study Report
RQ4. Why Did School Districts Select the PKOMW Curriculum?
This section describes one d istrict’s 4 rationale for purchasing the PKOMW curriculum over other curricula. It also describes the perceptions of teachers, district staff members, and center directors on the value of PKOMW curriculum.
Rich Cultural and Linguistic Representation of PKOMW Curriculum Materials
One key reason that District A purchased PKOMW is due to the diversity and racial representation of PKOMW’s curriculum materials. A district staff member described the internal curriculum review process whereby the district reviewed multiple curricula using a rubric with different criteria such as inclusion of diverse perspectives and racial/cultural diversity. According to the district, one of the criteria that was of great importance to the district was how the curriculum materials represented minority groups. A district staff member mentioned that the other curriculum they
“We reviewed several curricula… . It was the diversity piece . That’s why we ended up going with Scholastic. The other product had some diversity, it was limited, the representation was stereotypical… . They get points in the rubric.... But we like that a lot of the PKOMW texts are written by a person of that minority group. That’s huge. For example, it’s not a story of Native Americans written by a non-Native American.” – District Staff
had reviewed had some diversity but had more stereotypical representation of ethnic groups; for example, they shared that the other curriculum depicted Asian students in an offensive way. The district also liked that the PKOMW curriculum was research-based and that they had minority writers.
Describing Value of PKOMW to Peers
When asked about how they would describe PKOMW to peers, all teachers, district staff members, and center directors spoke about PKOMW in favorable ways. Teachers described PKOMW as a curriculum that was rich in language and literacy. They reported that the PKOMW curriculum provided extensive guidance and support for teachers and included rich diverse reading materials that made for
“I would tell teachers that PKOMW has rich diverse literature that makes for wonderful, interactive read-aloud . I would also share that all of the center materials are provided for them for math, language, and literacy. I would also share with them that the program is scripted but it still leaves you with a sense of autonomy . And it’s very teacher-friendly because everything is already planned o ut for you so you don’t have to do any lesson planning. It’s aligned with the early learning developmental standards for preschool .” – PreK Teacher
interactive read-alouds. Similarly, center directors and district staff members depicted the PKOMW curriculum as being very rich in literacy, interactive, and academically rigorous. They reported that the PKOMW curriculum incorporated diversity into the readings. For example, a center director shared the benefits of the
4 The District B interviewees were not involved in the selection of the PKOMW curriculum, so we could not ask what influenced the purchase of PKOMW.
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