Below is a message sent to our Summit Learning partner schools on Monday, August 15th.
Dear partners,
You may have seen recent online articles about Summit Learning and our curriculum. This is not the first attempt to bring us into a debate that we don’t see ourselves as a part of. We’re writing to you directly to affirm that our values and priorities haven’t shifted.
The most recent article seems to purposefully misconstrue a fundamental value at Summit Learning: to empower educators to make local, informed decisions about what curricular materials end up in front of students. As you know, our curriculum is editable at every level so that you and your teachers can decide what is right for your classroom, school, and community.
We know there are important conversations happening across the country about what curricular materials should be available to whom, and who should make those decisions. We remain focused on providing you and your school community resources to meet your students’ needs in the ways you see fit.
Your feedback about our program—including our editable curriculum, our professional development, and the coaching we provide you and your team— guides the revisions, edits and adjustments we make each year. We hope you will continue to share your feedback with us in the channels we have established, including coaching calls, Summit Learning professional development sessions, and platform support tickets, so we can continue to refine the program to meet the needs of you and your students.
At Summit Learning, we support educators. This includes providing you and your teachers with choices—choices about what material you teach, which projects you use, and how you connect with your students. We do not teach, you do. We do not make decisions about curriculum, you do. This is clear to us, and we’re proud to work alongside an exceptional set of committed and skilled teachers across the country who are open to reimagining how our education system can best serve students.
We are sorry that reporting like the article mentioned above shifts that attention away from your efforts, commitment and decision-making processes. We will continue to respectfully respond when the media misrepresents our shared efforts.
We wish you a strong start to this school year and are grateful to be a part of your teaching journey.
Best,
The Summit Learning team