Some public school districts across the state have made or are planning to make changes to curriculum to adhere to SF496, the new state law forbidding some subjects — sexuality and gender identity — from being taught to grades kindergarten through sixth. Students at the Marshalltown Community School District were greeted at the beginning of the year with relatively the same curriculum as before.

Smith

Smith

Instruction Shauna Smith said they did not have to make any curriculum changes to adhere to the law. However, she said they had to alter some of the surveys given to students in the teen outreach program.

“It was a question that was omitted that had something to do with sexual orientation,” Smith said. “This is not a topic that has been of high interest for our parents, but we want parents to know we are following the law.”

Outside of SF496, curriculum changes included a new one for science at Miller Middle School. Smith said it is high-quality and aligns with the district standards.

“Students will go to science with new curricular materials,” she said. “Every year, we have a different cycle, a different content area with new resources.”

Smith said Marshalltown has not had consistent science resources for Miller until this year, and she is very excited about the new curriculum because it facilitates a collaborative learning environment.

“This is an excellent stepping stone from sixth-grade science into that middle school experience,” she said. “Where before we had that inconsistency with resources the teachers were drawing upon. This curriculum promotes hands-on learning and is inquiry-based, so students can ask a lot of questions.”

She also said Woodbury Elementary has adopted a Core Knowledge Language Arts literacy program. Smith said it is an early literacy curriculum which was at the other district elementaries.

“They were not able to adopt it when the others did because of the dual-language nature of Woodbury,” she said. “It’s very exciting for us.”

In addition, the Career and Technical Education wing of the Marshalltown High School has brought in home improvement kits designed to help students develop an interest in careers such as plumbing and electrician.

“This will allow them to move on to more advanced material in that specific trade,” Smith said. “We purchased enough of those for kids to work in teams and we have three teachers who will be rotating the students between the trades. That will be a big draw. Our students will love that.”

She said new classes are also offered at the high school this year. Smith stressed offering the class is different than teaching the class. Students have to select the new offers from the course manual. The classes with enough interest are the ones that are then taught.

Another curriculum change in the district supports social-emotional learning.

Cretsinger

Matt Cretsinger, director of special services for the district, said Marshalltown has made a concerted effort to support the social-emotional needs of students, staff and the community.

“Most recently, we’ve worked with the Cook Center for Human Connection to provide monthly webinars that are free to families and focus on various aspects of mental wellness and child development,” he said. “We are committed to developing learners who have the knowledge, skills and positive mindset to successfully pursue a meaningful future through personalized learning experiences.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.