The Hopkinton school district will pilot three literacy programs in kindergarten through Grade 5 this fall, with an eye toward adoption of one for the 2027-28 school year.

Jeff LaBroad, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and Julie Matson, director of English language Arts (ELA) at the middle school, outlined plans at the June 18 School Committee meeting.

Although the district has high-achieving students for the most part, LaBroad said living up to its “All means all” mantra means “meeting the needs of every student” every day.

To do that, LaBroad described the process taken by the 21-member Elementary School Literacy Task Force, which included studying data from staff and family surveys, a standards audit, MCAS scores, other assessment results and more.

He noted there is pending legislation called An Act Relative to Teacher Preparation and Student Literacy that requires all districts to adopt a state-approved literacy program over the next year or two.

The results overall found students excelling in foundational literacy skills and reading development, comprehension and engagement.

Vocabulary showed mixed results, while areas needing improvement include writing from sources, idea development and elaboration, research and analysis, and inference.

“Higher-order thinking skills are where things get harder for kids,” Matson said.

The task force heard presentations from three commercial literacy program vendors: EL, Arts and Letters and Fishtank. Despite a comprehensive rating system and discussions with other districts using the vendors, the task force could not decide out of the three options.

“All three have the potential of supporting our vision for elementary literacy,” LaBroad said.

Participation in the pilot programs was opened to all Grade K-5 teachers, with 98% of the educators eager to volunteer — not a typical response, LaBroad noted.

The district will continue to teach foundational skills through its current Heggerty (pre-K and Grade 1) and Fundations (K to Grade 3). It then will use EL, followed by Arts and Letters and then Fishtank during the school year.

LaBroad said professional development will be offered extensively, and the programs will be evaluated for efficiency, curriculum usability, student engagement and representation (access for all).

In late spring, one program will be identified for adoption. In response to funding questions from School Committee member Chris Masters, LaBroad said the pilot costs of $25,000 to $35,000 is included in this year’s budget.

However, the assistant superintendent said Hopkinton currently is “in between” the point eligible for grant funding.

Grants are limited to either districts just starting out looking for a program or ready immediately to begin now.

LaBroad said he advocated to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to identify financial resources and was told his request was taken under advisement.

When a literacy program is adopted, it could cost $500,000, which would be a new expense, noted LaBroad.

He said an item of this magnitude likely would be something to consider on a Town Meeting warrant and an expense that probably “would not live in the operating budget.”

LaBroad is transitioning to take on the operational duties handled by Assistant Superintendent Susan Rothermich, who retires June 30.

School Committee member Nancy Cavanaugh recommended funding talks about the literacy program begin early in the next budget cycle.

Starting July 1, Matson will serve as director of literacy for pre-K to Grade 8.

She explained that reading and writing will be integrated going forward instead of as two individual pieces. Matson said the one-hour blocks for literacy would not take away time from other subjects like math or science but would allow for targeted interventions where needed.

Superintendent Evan Bishop praised the administrators and task force for their efforts to date.

“It has been a really impressive process to watch,” Bishop said. “I’m grateful for the work they’ve done. Our staff is so ready for this.”