Escambia County Schools’ Curriculum Comeback

In Alabama, a rural district aligned curricula, empowered its teachers, and raised student outcomes. See how they did it.  

The district 

Escambia County School District serves 4,000 students across three communities. Guided by Michele Collier since 2022, the district wanted to bring greater consistency and clarity to its classroom instruction. By partnering with PowerSchool, Escambia transformed its instructional practices and created a more collaborative teaching environment. 

The challenge: inconsistent instruction across classrooms 

When Collier arrived, the district did not have shared curriculum maps or pacing guides. She noted that teachers were using varied resources and timelines across grade levels and within the same grade level. Without clear cross-curricular (horizontal) and cross-grade (vertical) standardization, it was difficult for Escambia leaders to fully support teachers, monitor instruction, and gauge student success.  
 
Early efforts to build curriculum maps in Google Docs helped, but that strategy was hard to scale and maintain. The district came to realize that a new streamlined curriculum solution would not just be helpful. It was simply essential.  

The solution: PowerSchool’s instructional tools in action 

Escambia chose to build on their current PowerSchool solutions to create a personalized suite using SIS, Schoology Learning, Performance Matters, Enrollment, and Curriculum & Instruction. 

With help from PowerSchool consultant Dr. Dave Nelson, the district launched a teacher-led effort to create clear, standards-based curriculum maps. Next, they digitized these maps using Curriculum & Instruction’s calendar-based platform, which offered them standardization and efficiency that they had not experienced before.

A modern approach rooted in local leadership 

What began as a practical fix for curriculum mapping turned into a cultural shift. Collier credits Curriculum & Instruction with empowering teachers, streamlining oversight, and improving student achievement across the district. Here are some ways that Escambia experienced greater clarity, alignment, and success:  

Consistent curriculum across classrooms 

Educators now follow shared maps that they can quickly access. The maps clarify expectations by grade and subject, ensuring instruction is coordinated districtwide. 

Transparency for leaders and families

With the Public Sites feature, Escambia complies with Alabama Senate Bill 48 by sharing curriculum content online—offering visibility without exposing assessment data. 

More time for what matters 

Teachers save valuable planning time thanks to built-in links to lessons, vocabulary, and third-party tools like Nearpod and Discovery Education. 

Instructional gains and academic recovery 

With its streamlined system, the district has returned to pre-COVID scores, and they continue to build momentum to exceed these gains. 

Continuous collaboration 

Curriculum maps are now shared broadly across vertical and horizontal teams, to help align instruction within living documents. Each summer, educators plan to refine content, address gaps, and prepare for lessons according to the maps. 

What’s next for Escambia? Tackling chronic absenteeism.

Knowing that Curriculum & Instruction helped solve key challenges and is interoperable with existing tools, Escambia has turned their focus to student attendance. With over 30% of students chronically absent, the district’s attendance task force is evaluating tools to support early intervention and engagement. “Right now on my heart is attendance,” shares Collier, “and I trust that PowerSchool would give me a tool that I could rely on.”