Board Policy 6161.1

Administrative Regulation 6161.1

Administrative Regulation 6161.12

High School

Middle School

Proposed Title:

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (11th and 12th Grade)
Summary

Following this information item, the Instructional Services team will facilitate two (2) Parent Preview nights (virtually) as part of the process.

Timelines:

December 14, 2021
Board of Education Meeting, Information/Discussion Item

January 11, 2022
Board of Education Meeting, Information/Discussion Item

February 3, 2022
5:00 PM, Virtual Preview Event
Register to attend this webinar - HERE

January 27, 2022
5:00 PM, Virtual Preview Event
Register to attend this webinar - HERE

Date - TBD
Board of Education Meeting, Action Item

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Grade 7) by William Shakespeare (Grade 7)
Lexile 590 - Summary

All the Stars Denied by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (7th Grade)
Summary

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (IB/AP, Grade 11) 
Lexile 1090 - Summary

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan (6th Grade)
Summary

Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry (Grade 7)
Lexile 670 - Summary

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (Grade 7)
Lexile 1020 - Summary

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang (11th Grade)
Summary

Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults) by Bryan Stevenson (Grade 9)
Lexile 1130 - Summary

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (12th Grade)
Summary

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (10th Grade)
Summary

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Grade 6)
Lexile 670 - Summary

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Grade 11)
Lexile 890L - Summary

Twelfth Night, or, What You Will by William Shakespeare (Grade 8) 
Lexile 1140 - Summary

A Lexile measure is a reading ability or text difficulty score followed by an “L” (e.g. “850L”). The Lexile scale is a developmental scale for reading ranging from 200L for beginning readers to above 1700L for advanced text.

Lexile measures are based on two well-established predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend: semantic difficulty (word frequency) and syntactic complexity (sentence length).

1. During the English Language Arts (ELA) Articulation meeting a teacher presents a book with rationale for possible adoption to core literature list. The ELA Articulation committee meets three times a year and is composed of the ELA department chairs from each secondary school, as well as school site and district administrators.
2. Other members of the articulation group may agree to read the book for review and discussion at the following articulation meeting. Or, if other members have read the proposed book the articulation committee votes to move the proposal to Secondary Curriculum Advisory Council (SCAC).
3. Book is presented with rationale to SCAC by the ELA articulation committee representatives.
4. Titles recommended by the English Articulation Committee will be submitted to SCAC for recommendation to the board of education.
5. Title of proposed material is placed on public agenda 72 hours in advance of the board of education meeting.
6. Titles recommended to the Board of Education for adoption will adhere to the following process:
   • BOE Meeting 1 - Presentation and Information item only
   • BOE Meeting 2 - Information item, discussion & community input
   • BOE Meeting 3 - Action item, vote for potential adoption
7. After the material is proposed to the board of education as an information item during BOE Meeting 1, the books will be available for the parents and community to preview in multiple languages, as available, at CVUSD District Office and school sites.
8. Parent/community will have an opportunity to speak at public comments at each of the BOE meetings as described in #6 above and prior to the BOE vote to either approve or deny the adoption of the core literature novel.
9. As per Administrative Regulation 6161.12, all 9-12 English teachers’ syllabi will include a uniform letter from the District (AR 6161.12 Exhibit A) that outlines the parents’/guardians’ opportunity to review each core literature title and request an alternative assignment, along with the process for submitting an alternative assignment request form. The letter will include a parent/guardian acknowledgment signature and the following statement: Student and parents/guardians have the choice to request an alternative assignment.
10. All core literature titles are available to be checked out of the school’s library and/or the Instruction Office at the CVUSD District Office, and will be available in multiple languages to the extent available by the publisher. Parents/guardians are encouraged to preview materials in advance of the unit of study, as some titles may include mature content.
11. Students and parents/guardians must be informed of all core literature titles selected for use during the school year no later than the high school’s Back to School Night.