High Quality Instructional Materials (Not Present)

Recommended Initiative 2.1a

Click each deliverable below to expand its key design considerations.

Assess needs and capacity and publish a multi-year sequence and timeline for curriculum adoption

Among our existing curriculum adoptions, which, if any, have not been vetted and/or found to be high quality by a credible third party such as EdReports?
What do our student achievement data and stakeholder perspectives indicate are the most important priorities?
What contents/grade bands are most critical to adopt and train on while we have ESSER funds available?
Have we researched and included content-specific programming considerations (e.g., for elementary literacy and high school math in our planning?
How can we sequence so that no grade band is overloaded in a given year?

Identify no more than one content per grade band to pilot new curriculum materials in SY21-22 and designate leads

What contents/grade bands might be “gateway” areas, such that improving outcomes in this area would potentially have cascading effects in other areas?
Are teachers and leaders hungry for better materials in this content/grade band?
What operational and resource capacity exists in the system? Can someone realistically manage the logistics? Are funds available on this timeline?
How much change management is needed in the content/grade band? Would a pilot help to lay groundwork for system-wide shifts?

Select and procure pilot curriculum

Which high quality, externally-vetted materials best meet student and teacher needs in this content/grade band?
Use the Curriculum Support Guide from Instruction Partners to plan and execute curriculum selection and implementation and EdReports.org to identify green-rated curricula to review and select among.
See this sample adaptation of the Instruction Partners Curriculum Support Guide from Mastery Charter Schools.

Finalize pilot criteria and goals

Which schools will participate? What will they “give” (e.g., time on schedules)? What will they “get” (e.g. materials, training)? How and when will we measure success?

Secure training partner and develop training plan for pilot

What high quality training partners are available to train on this curriculum?
- Note: the availability of high quality training partners is also a useful lens for curriculum selection. Selecting open-source curriculum will result in more high quality options.
What upfront and ongoing training will we provide to teachers and leaders? When?

Purchase high quality supplemental resources for any high-needs contents/grade bands that will not pilot

Are there any supplemental resources that can help meet short-term needs in this content/grade band until it is possible to review and select core materials?
What evidence of impact do these resources offer (e.g., on Evidence for Essa or What Works Clearinghouse)?

Implement pilot curriculum and execute training and progress monitoring

Determine whether to scale in SY22-23

Did we meet our goals for the pilot?
What does our implementation data suggest about the potential to scale?
What lessons learned can we apply to strengthen next year’s implementation and/or improve future processes?

Group 1 contents/grade bands: Create working group and establish vision

Which stakeholders are most critical to engage as part of this working group?
What shared learning might be needed in order to ground the group in a common, research-based vision of excellence for the content/grade band?
What factors are most important to stakeholders in selecting a curriculum?

Select and procure new materials

Which high quality, externally-vetted materials best meet our needs?
Have we purchased all necessary components to support strong implementation?
How can we ensure that materials arrive and are distributed to educators prior to summer break?

Adjust instructional systems as needed

In order to ensure a coherent and well-supported implementation, what changes might be needed to the assessment suite? Schedules? Systems for unit and lesson plan internalization? Observation and feedback? Data and student work analysis? Grading practices? What resources and/or expectations need to sunset?

Publish Y1 implementation goals/monitoring plan

Select a training partner and co-design plan for teachers and leaders with new materials

What high quality training partners are available to train on this curriculum?
What upfront and ongoing training will be provided to teachers and leaders? When?