Arlington Traditional School

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t follow a different curriculum, and yes, they use iPads in the classroom.

One benefit of homework is that parents catch when their child isn’t grasping a concept, and can work on it at home. There’s no surprise at the end of the year that your child was struggling.

At the end of the day, it’s still a public school with large class sizes. If you can afford it, there are many private schools in the area that are far superior.

Also, ATS crossed the threshold this year to become a Title 1 (high poverty) school. Only time will tell if they can remain one of our higher performing elementary schools.

ATS didn’t cross some threshold. The demographics didn’t suddenly change. Arlington changed the way title 1 eligibility is calculated. That’s it.

Yes, agree.

I think its sort of unspoken that ATS has drawn from the under performing South Arlington schools and to a lesser extent from minority families in North Arlington uncomfortable with the mostly white elementary schools for which they are zoned. Most (white) families dominating the North Arlington zones prefer their neighborhood schools which are filled with the thing that ATS parents tout: involved parents who engage with the school.

APS changed how eligibility is calculated? Please explain.

I’m talking about the fact of families who choose to enter the lottery and/or choose to take a ATS slot.

Nope. You said APS changed the threshold for Title 1 eligibility. Please explain the new process.

We aren’t the same person. I’m the PP who said APS changed the way it calculates how title 1 eligibility is calculated. I don’t know the answer to your question. I am repeating what is in ATS’s faqs regarding title 1 status that was sent to all parents as well as what APS admin said in one of the school board meetings. You want to find out how exactly it changed? Pick the phone up at call Syphax.

Hint: It didn’t change. VPI increased poverty in the school. That’s it.

Also number of VPI students went down it seems

2022-2023: 46 students
2023-2024: 42 students
2024-2025: 31 students

That's really interesting. Did they open more VPI spots at neighborhood schools?

Another reason that it's Title 1 is that when a kid gets into ATS, no matter how, their siblings, younger and older, get preference. So when my child got in, and it was a 5-K-classroom cohort, there were only about 30 seats for non siblings. So while VPI went down, I doubt it impacted T1 status much. ANyway, the VPI students are so cute.

I’m not sure but I think the principal announced last year that there will be slightly less spots for VPI students. Not sure why. My understanding is that there are all these complaints that ATS lottery is unfair because so many spots are already taken by VPI students and then so many spots are gone due to sibling preference. This doesn’t explain the drop from last year though. One thing I did hear in last school board meeting is there are less students in general entering kindergarten in Arlington public schools. Not sure if this is due to flight to private schools or people leaving the area all together.

Birth rates are down. True everywhere but people are not moving to Arlington to start a family.

The shifting dynamic in North Arlington to private schools is unfortunate and we will see what the long term impacts may be. The birth rate thing doesn’t explain why they are so off right now; that is privates — families living in Arlington who don’t believe the public system is the best choice for their children.

It isn’t just North Arlington. Plenty of South Arlington families opting for private school, too. (We are one of them.)

I know many APS parents say, “Good riddance!” to private school families, but you’re right — there are negative impacts to the public schools.

The growing discontent with public schools in general is part of a nationwide trend. Hence the recent proliferation of small private schools (for all types of learners) and now specialized sports academies. To APS' credit, phonics is back, gifted classes are returning to middle schools, the high schools are still plenty challenging, extracurriculars are phenomenal. It would be a shame for entire neighborhoods to go private in Arlington, as the close-knit community feeling would diminish. I'm not too keen on the vibe of neighborhoods like Spring Valley--while beautiful, it's not a community where kids and their parents walk to school.

I am seeing a lot of improvement at APS as well. There are three weak spots that need addressing:

- writing: we still need to focus more on writing. The problem as I understand it is that teachers simply don’t have the bandwidth to offer detailed feedback on papers. This seems to be less of an issue in elementary school and more of an issue in high school and middle school. Teachers need more time and more support.
- iPad reliance: To me this is problematic in upper elementary especially where students are asked to write on tiny iPad screens (when keyboard comes up they can only see very little of their screens). If we can switch to paper that would be better
-AI: AI is great as a tool but it can prevent students from learning basic skills. I’m not sure what the solution was but I find it interesting that in college, some professors have a reverse classroom. You watch the lectures at home and then class time is focused on discussion and writing.

Oh and then math. I just think entire math curriculum at APS sucks. It’s not just an APS problem but a country wide issue.

I totally agree. The APS math curriculum is basically non-existent. They need to invest in a rigorous curriculum that isn't entirely app based. I wish they'd find something rigorous and evidence-based with a logical progression.

My kids go to ATS and ATS doesn’t use the math program that APS purchased, Envision or something like that. They rely on worksheets and apps. Based on what you said, this seems like it’s an APS wide issue. Why did APS purchase envision in the first place if no school is using it? And can we just get something better than a hodge podge of apps?

Worksheets are how students get enough practice to really memorize content.

Doing it on paper engages more parts of the brain and helps memorization more than typing it into a computer.

I’m not anti worksheet. I’m wondering why APS purchased a curriculum that no one uses and whether there are better options out there than teachers just relying on worksheets and apps.

No idea why or how APS decides anything.

"Math in Focus" is popular math curriculum. It is marketed as a kind Singapore Math, but colleagues from Singapore assure me it is not the same. It is actually used by some local private schools.

If I were in charge, I would pick an actual Singapore Math curriculum.

YMMV.

One issue is the inflated Syphax admin staffing. One example surrounds “curriculum” admin employees. Their job is to assess and purchase the curriculum used by APS. You’d be shocked that if you hire an admin to constantly analyze curriculum you get lots of recommendations about this and that curriculum and the best of everything new. So APS CONSTANTLY changes which 7th grade math and which 5th reading and which 3rd grade spelling curriculum they are using. Teachers who like and know how a certain curriculum works get no say. They are told by Syphax and are constantly having to learn new curriculum to teach new curriculum. It’s insane, wasteful of good teachers knowledge, wasteful of taxpayer dollars (constantly purchasing new textbooks and curriculum). How about we decide what actually works and stick with for, I don’t know, years unless and until a large consensus of teachers tells admin it isn’t working. We could literally have one person do this job.

I don't think this is true. We had no phonics and Lucy Calkins when my kids started in APS and that *had* to change becausethe prior model sucked and wasnt working. APS added a phonics curriculum (95Phonics) and CKLA. I'm not aware of other changes to language arts curriculum.

For math, my kids have been bringing home unused Envision workbooks for at least 4 years. I'm not aware of any other APS math curriculum. As far as I can tell, APS doesn't use a math curriculum. Teachers just look for free options on the internet or on teachers paying teachers, and then in upper grades they assign IXL problems. In elementary, Dreambox is used to keep kids quiet after they finish their work. That's what we've got. It’s shameful.

"Strict rules can foster calm classrooms. But some students pay the price"
https://www.npr.org/2025/09/25/nx-s1-5459934/school-students-disabilities-discipline

This is the inherent catch-22. Either put kids who don't belong in a normal classroom to potentially help them, while stunting normal kids so much that parents pine for schools like ATS; or put kids in classrooms according to their relative ability to create a better homeostasis and allow most schools to function more traditionally as a learning institution and not a social engineering lab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ATS parent here. The math curriculum in all of APS sucks. Sure at ATS students do better at SOLs but the bar is really low. ATS’s math curriculum is random and makes no sense.

We're not at ATS, but the story I have heard about the APS math curriculum is that they have to teach to the Virginia Standards of Learning and there is no off the shelf curriculum that matches that exactly. That's why they are all using piecemeal materials to teach the required standards. I'm not sure if that's true, if so it seems like every single district in the state has the same problem to solve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS parent here. The math curriculum in all of APS sucks. Sure at ATS students do better at SOLs but the bar is really low. ATS’s math curriculum is random and makes no sense.

We're not at ATS, but the story I have heard about the APS math curriculum is that they have to teach to the Virginia Standards of Learning and there is no off the shelf curriculum that matches that exactly. That's why they are all using piecemeal materials to teach the required standards. I'm not sure if that's true, if so it seems like every single district in the state has the same problem to solve.

Thanks! This is helpful to know

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t follow a different curriculum, and yes, they use iPads in the classroom.

One benefit of homework is that parents catch when their child isn’t grasping a concept, and can work on it at home. There’s no surprise at the end of the year that your child was struggling.

At the end of the day, it’s still a public school with large class sizes. If you can afford it, there are many private schools in the area that are far superior.

Also, ATS crossed the threshold this year to become a Title 1 (high poverty) school. Only time will tell if they can remain one of our higher performing elementary schools.

ATS didn’t cross some threshold. The demographics didn’t suddenly change. Arlington changed the way title 1 eligibility is calculated. That’s it.

Yes, agree.

I think its sort of unspoken that ATS has drawn from the under performing South Arlington schools and to a lesser extent from minority families in North Arlington uncomfortable with the mostly white elementary schools for which they are zoned. Most (white) families dominating the North Arlington zones prefer their neighborhood schools which are filled with the thing that ATS parents tout: involved parents who engage with the school.

APS changed how eligibility is calculated? Please explain.

I’m talking about the fact of families who choose to enter the lottery and/or choose to take a ATS slot.

Nope. You said APS changed the threshold for Title 1 eligibility. Please explain the new process.

We aren’t the same person. I’m the PP who said APS changed the way it calculates how title 1 eligibility is calculated. I don’t know the answer to your question. I am repeating what is in ATS’s faqs regarding title 1 status that was sent to all parents as well as what APS admin said in one of the school board meetings. You want to find out how exactly it changed? Pick the phone up at call Syphax.

Hint: It didn’t change. VPI increased poverty in the school. That’s it.

Also number of VPI students went down it seems

2022-2023: 46 students
2023-2024: 42 students
2024-2025: 31 students

That's really interesting. Did they open more VPI spots at neighborhood schools?

Another reason that it's Title 1 is that when a kid gets into ATS, no matter how, their siblings, younger and older, get preference. So when my child got in, and it was a 5-K-classroom cohort, there were only about 30 seats for non siblings. So while VPI went down, I doubt it impacted T1 status much. ANyway, the VPI students are so cute.

I’m not sure but I think the principal announced last year that there will be slightly less spots for VPI students. Not sure why. My understanding is that there are all these complaints that ATS lottery is unfair because so many spots are already taken by VPI students and then so many spots are gone due to sibling preference. This doesn’t explain the drop from last year though. One thing I did hear in last school board meeting is there are less students in general entering kindergarten in Arlington public schools. Not sure if this is due to flight to private schools or people leaving the area all together.

Birth rates are down. True everywhere but people are not moving to Arlington to start a family.

The shifting dynamic in North Arlington to private schools is unfortunate and we will see what the long term impacts may be. The birth rate thing doesn’t explain why they are so off right now; that is privates — families living in Arlington who don’t believe the public system is the best choice for their children.

It isn’t just North Arlington. Plenty of South Arlington families opting for private school, too. (We are one of them.)

I know many APS parents say, “Good riddance!” to private school families, but you’re right — there are negative impacts to the public schools.

The growing discontent with public schools in general is part of a nationwide trend. Hence the recent proliferation of small private schools (for all types of learners) and now specialized sports academies. To APS' credit, phonics is back, gifted classes are returning to middle schools, the high schools are still plenty challenging, extracurriculars are phenomenal. It would be a shame for entire neighborhoods to go private in Arlington, as the close-knit community feeling would diminish. I'm not too keen on the vibe of neighborhoods like Spring Valley--while beautiful, it's not a community where kids and their parents walk to school.

I am seeing a lot of improvement at APS as well. There are three weak spots that need addressing:

- writing: we still need to focus more on writing. The problem as I understand it is that teachers simply don’t have the bandwidth to offer detailed feedback on papers. This seems to be less of an issue in elementary school and more of an issue in high school and middle school. Teachers need more time and more support.
- iPad reliance: To me this is problematic in upper elementary especially where students are asked to write on tiny iPad screens (when keyboard comes up they can only see very little of their screens). If we can switch to paper that would be better
-AI: AI is great as a tool but it can prevent students from learning basic skills. I’m not sure what the solution was but I find it interesting that in college, some professors have a reverse classroom. You watch the lectures at home and then class time is focused on discussion and writing.

Oh and then math. I just think entire math curriculum at APS sucks. It’s not just an APS problem but a country wide issue.

I totally agree. The APS math curriculum is basically non-existent. They need to invest in a rigorous curriculum that isn't entirely app based. I wish they'd find something rigorous and evidence-based with a logical progression.

My kids go to ATS and ATS doesn’t use the math program that APS purchased, Envision or something like that. They rely on worksheets and apps. Based on what you said, this seems like it’s an APS wide issue. Why did APS purchase envision in the first place if no school is using it? And can we just get something better than a hodge podge of apps?

Worksheets are how students get enough practice to really memorize content.

Doing it on paper engages more parts of the brain and helps memorization more than typing it into a computer.

I’m not anti worksheet. I’m wondering why APS purchased a curriculum that no one uses and whether there are better options out there than teachers just relying on worksheets and apps.

No idea why or how APS decides anything.

"Math in Focus" is popular math curriculum. It is marketed as a kind Singapore Math, but colleagues from Singapore assure me it is not the same. It is actually used by some local private schools.

If I were in charge, I would pick an actual Singapore Math curriculum.

YMMV.

One issue is the inflated Syphax admin staffing. One example surrounds “curriculum” admin employees. Their job is to assess and purchase the curriculum used by APS. You’d be shocked that if you hire an admin to constantly analyze curriculum you get lots of recommendations about this and that curriculum and the best of everything new. So APS CONSTANTLY changes which 7th grade math and which 5th reading and which 3rd grade spelling curriculum they are using. Teachers who like and know how a certain curriculum works get no say. They are told by Syphax and are constantly having to learn new curriculum to teach new curriculum. It’s insane, wasteful of good teachers knowledge, wasteful of taxpayer dollars (constantly purchasing new textbooks and curriculum). How about we decide what actually works and stick with for, I don’t know, years unless and until a large consensus of teachers tells admin it isn’t working. We could literally have one person do this job.

I don't think this is true. We had no phonics and Lucy Calkins when my kids started in APS and that *had* to change becausethe prior model sucked and wasnt working. APS added a phonics curriculum (95Phonics) and CKLA. I'm not aware of other changes to language arts curriculum.

For math, my kids have been bringing home unused Envision workbooks for at least 4 years. I'm not aware of any other APS math curriculum. As far as I can tell, APS doesn't use a math curriculum. Teachers just look for free options on the internet or on teachers paying teachers, and then in upper grades they assign IXL problems. In elementary, Dreambox is used to keep kids quiet after they finish their work. That's what we've got. It’s shameful.

"Strict rules can foster calm classrooms. But some students pay the price"
https://www.npr.org/2025/09/25/nx-s1-5459934/school-students-disabilities-discipline

This is the inherent catch-22. Either put kids who don't belong in a normal classroom to potentially help them, while stunting normal kids so much that parents pine for schools like ATS; or put kids in classrooms according to their relative ability to create a better homeostasis and allow most schools to function more traditionally as a learning institution and not a social engineering lab.

ATS is nothing like the school in the article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS parent here. The math curriculum in all of APS sucks. Sure at ATS students do better at SOLs but the bar is really low. ATS’s math curriculum is random and makes no sense.

We're not at ATS, but the story I have heard about the APS math curriculum is that they have to teach to the Virginia Standards of Learning and there is no off the shelf curriculum that matches that exactly. That's why they are all using piecemeal materials to teach the required standards. I'm not sure if that's true, if so it seems like every single district in the state has the same problem to solve.

That is 100% true. Seems to me like would be easier if we just. Went. Common. Core!
- APS teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS parent here. The math curriculum in all of APS sucks. Sure at ATS students do better at SOLs but the bar is really low. ATS’s math curriculum is random and makes no sense.

We're not at ATS, but the story I have heard about the APS math curriculum is that they have to teach to the Virginia Standards of Learning and there is no off the shelf curriculum that matches that exactly. That's why they are all using piecemeal materials to teach the required standards. I'm not sure if that's true, if so it seems like every single district in the state has the same problem to solve.

That is 100% true. Seems to me like would be easier if we just. Went. Common. Core!
- APS teacher

Common Core is a sham and is nearly content-free. They deliberately set the bar so low that every student in every state will pass. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS parent here. The math curriculum in all of APS sucks. Sure at ATS students do better at SOLs but the bar is really low. ATS’s math curriculum is random and makes no sense.

We're not at ATS, but the story I have heard about the APS math curriculum is that they have to teach to the Virginia Standards of Learning and there is no off the shelf curriculum that matches that exactly. That's why they are all using piecemeal materials to teach the required standards. I'm not sure if that's true, if so it seems like every single district in the state has the same problem to solve.

That is 100% true. Seems to me like would be easier if we just. Went. Common. Core!
- APS teacher

Since we did not, and given you have the inside view, what would you do to improve the math curriculum if you were the superintendent? The math curriculum needs to change but changing it seems to be quite complicated :/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS parent here. The math curriculum in all of APS sucks. Sure at ATS students do better at SOLs but the bar is really low. ATS’s math curriculum is random and makes no sense.

We're not at ATS, but the story I have heard about the APS math curriculum is that they have to teach to the Virginia Standards of Learning and there is no off the shelf curriculum that matches that exactly. That's why they are all using piecemeal materials to teach the required standards. I'm not sure if that's true, if so it seems like every single district in the state has the same problem to solve.

That is 100% true. Seems to me like would be easier if we just. Went. Common. Core!
- APS teacher

Since we did not, and given you have the inside view, what would you do to improve the math curriculum if you were the superintendent? The math curriculum needs to change but changing it seems to be quite complicated :/

Great question. (I’m the PP above.) It seems difficult to believe that VA doesn’t have enough purchasing power to find a quality program that matches our standards. Or at the very least, work with other states to buy something really close. I just checked https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/common-core-states, which has some very interesting info. Really, this should be a state responsibility and not left to school districts to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t follow a different curriculum, and yes, they use iPads in the classroom.

One benefit of homework is that parents catch when their child isn’t grasping a concept, and can work on it at home. There’s no surprise at the end of the year that your child was struggling.

At the end of the day, it’s still a public school with large class sizes. If you can afford it, there are many private schools in the area that are far superior.

Also, ATS crossed the threshold this year to become a Title 1 (high poverty) school. Only time will tell if they can remain one of our higher performing elementary schools.

ATS didn’t cross some threshold. The demographics didn’t suddenly change. Arlington changed the way title 1 eligibility is calculated. That’s it.

Demographics HAVE changed due to increased focus on getting more VPI kids in the school.

Clearly you aren’t an ATS parent
Cuz u have no idea what’s going on. Actually there are less spots for VPI students now. Disappointing because they added a lot to diversity of school. This was the result of APS deciding that lottery was unfair because so many seats are taken by VPI students.

And yet… it’s Title 1.

You don’t get it do you? We are excited that it is a title 1 school. It means more resources for ATS kids. There is nothing wrong with being a title 1 school unless of course you are a person that hates poor people.

That may be true of current parents, but there are families who won't apply to ATS going forward because it's a Title 1 school and that is often equated with lower performance, attendance issues and behavior issues. Those may or may not be issues for ATS specifically, but being Title 1 isn't universally viewed as beneficial.

That is pure ignorance but true.ATS is an exception because of the school culture.We left a N. Arlington school that has gone downhill with kids behaviors (bullhorns at lunch to keep order), no transparency with school work(no graded work), click culture, lack of diversity, and little continuity of learning (no homework). Many parents of No Arlington elementary schools are not feeling the no homework policy. These kids suffer in middle school with a huge culture shock on exception. We don't regret moving our kid.

[Anonymous]

My favorite quote from when my kids were in a neighborhood school and we’d have to listen to the ATS parents at soccer practice, “I’d never send my kids to a school with kids with the type of parents that send their kids to ATS.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My favorite quote from when my kids were in a neighborhood school and we’d have to listen to the ATS parents at soccer practice, “I’d never send my kids to a school with kids with the type of parents that send their kids to ATS.”

That’s great. We wouldn’t want to be with your type either then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS parent here. The math curriculum in all of APS sucks. Sure at ATS students do better at SOLs but the bar is really low. ATS’s math curriculum is random and makes no sense.

We're not at ATS, but the story I have heard about the APS math curriculum is that they have to teach to the Virginia Standards of Learning and there is no off the shelf curriculum that matches that exactly. That's why they are all using piecemeal materials to teach the required standards. I'm not sure if that's true, if so it seems like every single district in the state has the same problem to solve.

That is 100% true. Seems to me like would be easier if we just. Went. Common. Core!
- APS teacher

Since we did not, and given you have the inside view, what would you do to improve the math curriculum if you were the superintendent? The math curriculum needs to change but changing it seems to be quite complicated :/

Great question. (I’m the PP above.) It seems difficult to believe that VA doesn’t have enough purchasing power to find a quality program that matches our standards. Or at the very least, work with other states to buy something really close. I just checked https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/common-core-states, which has some very interesting info. Really, this should be a state responsibility and not left to school districts to deal with.

Different parts of the US do this differently. Much of New England has small local school districts, each choosing its own curriculum supplier, within broad guidelines from its state. Texas is the other extreme, where the curriculum suppliers are chosen by the state and local school systems have little flexibility about suppliers.

One state's approach is not always better than another state's approach.

Virginia is closer to the New England model.

VA recently has required that a Science of Reading curriculum be used for ELA -- and that the Lucy Calkins / Whole Language / Balanced Literacy approach must not be used. For VA, that is fairly prescriptive.

In most subjects, VA sets requirements for what to cover, both by subject and by grade, but it gives local schools latitude about their curriculum supplier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My favorite quote from when my kids were in a neighborhood school and we’d have to listen to the ATS parents at soccer practice, “I’d never send my kids to a school with kids with the type of parents that send their kids to ATS.”

ATS parents generally don't talk about being at ATS with others for this reason, your jealously and soccer teams are largely ES based so, unless this is travel, you are lying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite quote from when my kids were in a neighborhood school and we’d have to listen to the ATS parents at soccer practice, “I’d never send my kids to a school with kids with the type of parents that send their kids to ATS.”

ATS parents generally don't talk about being at ATS with others for this reason, your jealously and soccer teams are largely ES based so, unless this is travel, you are lying.

My exposure is to parents from a different APS option school... but I know exactly what they mean. It's not all of the parents by any means, but there are a subset of parents who say things like the option schools are "public school +" that are absolutely insufferable. If you don't believe me go look in the archives for the threads protesting the great site swap of 2021.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS parent here. The math curriculum in all of APS sucks. Sure at ATS students do better at SOLs but the bar is really low. ATS’s math curriculum is random and makes no sense.

We're not at ATS, but the story I have heard about the APS math curriculum is that they have to teach to the Virginia Standards of Learning and there is no off the shelf curriculum that matches that exactly. That's why they are all using piecemeal materials to teach the required standards. I'm not sure if that's true, if so it seems like every single district in the state has the same problem to solve.

That is 100% true. Seems to me like would be easier if we just. Went. Common. Core!
- APS teacher

Since we did not, and given you have the inside view, what would you do to improve the math curriculum if you were the superintendent? The math curriculum needs to change but changing it seems to be quite complicated :/

Great question. (I’m the PP above.) It seems difficult to believe that VA doesn’t have enough purchasing power to find a quality program that matches our standards. Or at the very least, work with other states to buy something really close. I just checked https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/common-core-states, which has some very interesting info. Really, this should be a state responsibility and not left to school districts to deal with.

Different parts of the US do this differently. Much of New England has small local school districts, each choosing its own curriculum supplier, within broad guidelines from its state. Texas is the other extreme, where the curriculum suppliers are chosen by the state and local school systems have little flexibility about suppliers.

One state's approach is not always better than another state's approach.

Virginia is closer to the New England model.

VA recently has required that a Science of Reading curriculum be used for ELA -- and that the Lucy Calkins / Whole Language / Balanced Literacy approach must not be used. For VA, that is fairly prescriptive.

In most subjects, VA sets requirements for what to cover, both by subject and by grade, but it gives local schools latitude about their curriculum supplier.

But how much does that even matter when the bar is set so low to begin with? I mean the SOL content expectation is way too easy in every subject and many can't or won't teach past it for a variety of reasons.