The Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) approved a new pre-K-`8 curriculum Jan. 8, and now MCPS will spend $12.4 million over the next three years for instructional materials from outside vendors including Great Minds LLC, McGraw-Hill Education Inc. and LearnZillion Inc.

This purchase will cover pre-K through fifth-grade math, middle school math and middle school language arts curriculums. MCPS has not yet chosen a high school algebra and fifth grade English curriculum.

MCPS began searching for a new curriculum last spring when the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy determined in a study that the current curriculum did not meet federal standards.

“I’m confident we’re adopting curriculum that supports recommendations we received and addresses things we knew were lacking, like the balance between technology and paper materials,” BOE member Pat O’Neil told Bethesda Magazine in a Jan. 8 article.