Ushering in a New Era of Curriculum Quality

The Center for Education Market Dynamics • July 31, 2024

Guest Author: Lauren Weisskirk, Education Strategist

I have dedicated my career to supporting teachers, helping them to obtain the quality materials and professional learning they deserve and demand. Since 2007, I’ve been privileged to advance this work from the nonprofit, district, and state levels.

Reflecting on the selection and implementation of curriculum over the past decade, I am encouraged by the robust landscape we see today. I was a professional development and instructional policy leader at the New York City Department of Education during a transition to new standards and new curricula. And in 2015, I helped launch EdReports.org, a national nonprofit that publishes educator-led reviews of curriculum. At the time, I didn’t know how quickly the curriculum market would shift. Fewer than ten years later, there are standards-aligned, quality curricular options for all grade levels, a powerful community of technical assistance providers that support adoptions and implementation of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), and a robust conversation about curriculum—and how we can continue raising the bar to further support all students and their teachers.

An Evolution in Supply and Demand

When the Common Core State Standards were developed and rolled out in 2010, one of the most anticipated advancements was that the quality of published curricula would increase. While not all states adopted or have kept these standards in place, the result on the curriculum market has been striking: the supply of HQIM indeed has grown immensely since then. Districts have more choices than ever. In addition, district leaders are demonstrating their commitment to selecting quality materials in an inclusive and thoughtful manner.

Stories and lessons learned from leaders who have spearheaded curriculum change efforts in their districts show the power of these investments. It is increasingly rare for materials to be selected in a perfunctory manner or as a task to tick off a checklist. Decisions about materials are being made in the context of broader instructional strategy and tied to a vision for strong teaching and learning.

What’s Next: Raising the Bar for Quality Content

Approximately 10 years ago, a movement for improving the quality of information about curricular materials found a foothold in K-12 education. States across the country and EdReports.org started providing clear, consistent signals about the characteristics of standards-aligned, high-quality curriculum. A primary focus in this first phase was on standards alignment and ensuring that materials helped students gain the skills and knowledge to progress toward college and career readiness. This collective effort enabled district purchasers and content developers to ensure that all classroom materials met or exceeded a widely adopted baseline for quality.

Districts have shown that they can improve the curriculum market by setting a high standard for quality. With a stronger base of standards-aligned materials to choose from, district leaders and teachers are demanding materials that exceed this mark—which is creating a new, higher bar. Two areas that I consistently hear are priorities are that materials need to include embedded tools and resources for multilingual learners and to include interventions to accelerate the learning of students currently performing below grade level.

The next generation of high-quality instructional materials will:

1. Include resources for multilingual learners (MLLs). This represents the fastest-growing population in United States public schools; districts nationwide are prioritizing high-quality materials with teacher- and student-facing resources for MLLs to gain content-specific knowledge and skills while also gaining proficiency in English. Organizations such as the English Learners Success Forum (ELSF) and states as varied as Rhode Island, New Mexico, and California are helping to define the characteristics of high quality instructional materials that support multilingual learners and their teachers.

New materials will not retrofit older content and approaches to meet multilingual learner needs; they will be designed to meet these needs as part of a coherent system of instruction. This innovation is likely to happen at a rapid pace. As districts prioritize curricula that meet the needs of their student populations (and particularly as districts with large multilingual learner populations in California, Texas, and Florida engage in upcoming math and ELA materials adoptions), there is an opportunity for an improved nationwide supply of materials that meaningfully incorporate supports for MLLs.

2. Provide better tools to accelerate learning for students performing below grade level. The pandemic laid bare how materials do not yet support teachers enough to address the needs of students performing behind grade level. As students are still recovering from interrupted instruction, districts are searching for products and solutions that will accelerate learning.

One way we see this is in increased spending on supplemental and intervention products. Districts and schools spend over $4.6B annually on supplemental programs; teachers indicate that they look for supplemental materials outside of their core curriculum because their core materials do not have enough scaffolds or review of prior years’ content that was missed or not yet mastered.

There is a growing conversation about instructional coherence, and how schools and districts need to evaluate how their core materials, supplements, intervention programs, and assessments work together to support student achievement. At the same time, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding is winding down, causing districts to reexamine their budgets. It is likely that spending on supplemental programs will be an area to undergo cuts, and districts will be looking for core materials that support students who are behind grade level. Programs that succeed in this goal will accelerate student learning—and save districts the energy and resources they expend currently to evaluate, procure, and incorporate additional products into their core instruction.

All of these improvements in content will create a positive impact in the lives of students, particularly those that have been historically underserved. Districts have the power to maintain a high bar for standards alignment and ensure that materials are intentionally designed to advance the learning of all students. Thanks to the innovations in the curriculum market over the past decade, these changes can take hold and scale more quickly to support students and teachers nationwide.

Ready to learn more about driving math HQIM for K-12 students? Read Establishing a Curriculum Adoption to discover peer insights on the shift in evaluating, selecting, and implementing new math materials. Sign up for the series, Driving High-Quality Math Materials: A District Leader’s Guide, where CEMD explores the critical role played by district leaders in bringing high-quality math materials to their districts.