The Hidden Value of Curriculum Reform
Content
A P P H O T O / R O G E L I O V . S O L I S
The Hidden Hidden Value Value of Curriculum Reform Do States and Districts Receive the Most Bang for Their Their Curriculum Buck? By Ulrich Boser, Matthew Chingos, and Chelsea Straus
October 2015
WWW.AMERICANPROGRESS.ORG
The Hidden Value Hidden Value of Curriculum Reform Do States and Districts Receive the Most Bang for Their Curriculum Buck? By Ulrich Boser, Matthew Chingos, and Chelsea Straus
October 2015
Contents
1 Introduction and summary 4 Background 8 How curriculum decisions are made 12 Spending on instructional materials 14 The relationship relationship between price and quality 19 Findings 22 Recommendations 27 Conclusion 29 Appendix A 32 Appendix B: Case studies 50 Endnotes
Introduction and summary Curriculum plays an imporan role in how sudens are augh, and here is a srong body o evidence ha shows ha puting a high-qualiy curriculum in he hands o eachers can have significan posiive impacs on suden achievemen. Furhermore, curriculum reorm is ypically inexpensive, and some o he highesqualiy elemenary school mah curricula cos only around $36 per suden.1 In shor, curriculum reorm is a low-cos, high-reurn educaional invesmen. o promoe curriculum reormand make beter use o educaion dollars his repor provides new insigh on how curricula curr icula are seleced in every sae across he counry and examines he coss o hose curricula. Troughou his repor, he auhors use “curriculum “curriculum”” o reer o he insrucional maerials such as exbooks, workbooks, and sofware used by eachers. In compiling his repor, he auhors conduced exensive research researchincluding including inerviews wih w ih sae and disric officials, along wih an examinaion o curricula price liss which provides a deai deailed led pic picure ure o how publi publicc schools could increa increase se he reurn on invesmen, or ROI, o axpayer dollars. Te repor’s key findings include: •
Higher-quality curriculum in elementary school math can come at a relatively low cost. Te auhors analyzed six pairs o
curricula, where each pair included a lower-qualiy and higher-qualiy version. Te auhors looked a how much i would cos or a school o swich sw ich rom a lower-qualiy produc o a higherqualiy one in elemenary school mah and ound here’ here’ss no much o a cos. In ac, he daa ha he auhors colleced rom 19 saes indicae ha publishers end o charge all saes roughly he same price. Tese findings mean ha nearly all opporuniies or boosing ROI are a mater o choosing he bes produc, no finding a beter price. 2
•
More rigorous elementary school math curricula can deliver far more ROI than other reforms. In compiling his repor, he auhors compared he cos-effecive-
o six pairs o elemenary mah curricula ness raio or each ha had been sub jec o a rigorous evaluaion evaluaion sponsored by he U U.S. .S. Deparmen o Educaio Educaion. n. 1
Center for o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form for American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of
Reviewing hese daa in ligh o an influenial sudy by economis Doug Harris, he auhors deermined ha swiching o a higher qualiy curriculum has a huge ROI relaive o oher educaional policiesin large par because curricula cos so litle. Tere are oher acors a play, o course, and gains in mah, or insance, can be easier o achieve relaive o oher subjecs. Bu wha’s clear is ha he averagee cos-effeciveness raio o swiching curriculum was almos 40 imes averag imes ha o class-size reducion in a well-known randomized experimen. •
When it comes to math curricula in the early grades, cost does not always equal quality. Tere is litle relaionship beween he cos and qualiy
o insrucional producs. Prices do no vary widely w idely across producs, wih he mos expensive produc in he same governmen-sponsored sudy cosing only $13 per suden more han he he leas expensive produc. I anyhing, he higher-qualiy producs end o cos less, and in some insances, he mos expensive curriculum was among he leas effecive and he leas expensive was among he mos effecive. •
Policy decisions do not consider rigorous measures of curricula quality. Sae
adopion decisions are ofen based on limied assessmens o qualiy quali y and weak proxies or alignmen o sae sandards. Furhermore, poliics ofen dominae he discussion over he adopion o exbooks and oher insrucional maerial, and issues such as he he eaching o evoluion are ofen cener sage. Tere is also a clear gap beween he realiy o which w hich curricula are effecive or aligned o sae sandards and he curricula ha publishers adverise as such. 3
Many saes are moving orward wih w ih implemening he new Common Core sandards, and his process offers imporan opporuniies or he creaion o innovaive, cos-effecive insrucional producs. However, However, hese new producs will no add much value i schools canno accuraely separae he whea rom he chaff. Tus, he auhors recommend he ollowing: •
Invest in better product research. I is hard or observers o judge curricula
qualiy i here is litle evaluaion o mos producs’ effeciveness. Te ederal governmen has a significan role o play in coninuing o suppor his imporan research, including unding randomized experimens ha clearly show which curricula produce he larges achievemen gains. Jus as i does wih medicine, he ederal governmen should und comparaive effeciveness research. Sae educaion agencies also have a role o play in collecing he necessary daa and making hem available or sudies o curricula qualiy.
2
Center for o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form for American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of
•
Improve the state textbook adoption process. Nineeen saes have a curricu-
lum adopion process ha produces a lis o producs ha schools eiher mus use or are encouraged o use. When hard evidence on curriculum qualiy is available, i should supersede he ofen vague impressions o sakeholder groups ha requenly dominae he process. p rocess. Addiionally Addiionally,, saes should replace heir ofen limied approaches o measuring alignmen o sae sandards by commissioning 4
proessional alignmen sudies o proposed curricula. Saes wihou an adopion process should consider creaing one ha provides acionable inormaion o aid disrics in selecion decisions. Louisiana, or insance, allows disrics o have complee auonomy over he selecion o all heir insrucional maerials, bu he sa saee pro provides vides dis disrics rics wi wihh anno annoae aedd review reviewss o iinsruci nsrucional onal rresour esources ces and groups maerials ino iers based on heir qualiy. All saes should coninue o allow schools o selec he insrucional producs ha are righ or hem bu should also provide clear and accurae inormaion abou qualiy ha obviaes he need or every disric o deermine he effeciveness o insrucional maerials. 5
•
Improve the selection process in school districts. For years, school disrics
have sruggled o make inormed curriculum decisions, in large par due o a lack o reliable inormaion on produc qualiy. Improving he adopion process a he sae level will be an imporan sep in he righ direcion; bu disrics sill need o choose he righ produc rom he lis o opions provided by he he sae, or anoher produc when appropriae. One promising sraegy sraegy currenly used in some disrics is o pilo new producs alongside exising producs in order o produce evidence on effeciveness e ffeciveness beore commiting o he new produc. Disrics can also benefi by increasing inormaion sharing across disrics abou experiences wih differen insrucional insruc ional producs. 6
•
Create a competitive grant program devoted to creating high-quality curricula.
Alhough he Comm Alhough Common on Co Core re pr presens esens an impo imporan ran op opporuniy poruniy oo impr improve ove insrucional maerials, some publishers are making overly zealous claims abou heir maerials’ alignmen o he sandards. Philanhropiss and oher independen groups should spur he creaion o high-qualiy exbooks and oher insrucional maerials by creaing a compeiive gran program. Nonprofis, small publishing companies, and innovaors would hen be able o apply or grans o develop and scale-up promising high-qualiy, openly licensed, Common Corealigned curricula. Te gran program would reward innovaion, scalabiliy, and evidence-based research supporing he key componens o each curriculum. 7
In educaion, i is rare or a reorm o show srong oucomes and be relaively inexpensive. However, However, curriculum reorm is boh cos-effecive and worhwhile and should become a more cenral par par o he effor o improve he naion’ naion’s schools. 3
Center for o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form for American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of
Background For he pas several years, public schools in he Unied Saes have been under significan pressure o do more wih less. In oher words, policymakers and he public wan schools o increase heir produciviyhe reurn on invesmen o axpayer dollars. Daa showing wide gaps in produciviy beween similar school disrics srongly sugges ha increased produciviy is, in ac, possible. Previous research by he Cener or American Progress has shown ha some disrics produce more bang or heir buck han ohers. According o a 2014 CAP analysis, “only slighly more han one-hird o he disrics in he op hird in spending were also als o in he op hird in achieve achievemen. men.””8 As educaion researchers Mathew Mathew Chingo Chingoss and Grover (Russ (Russ)) Whiehurs argued in a 2012 paper, curriculum reorm is one o he bes areas or produciviy gains, since insrucional maerials can provide relaively high increases in suden achievemen or relaively low coss.9 Moreover Moreover,, as mos saes are moving orward wih implemening he Common Core Core sandards, local leaders are are already on he lookou or high-qualiy maerials. Tis makes curriculum reorm a logical place or schools and disrics o look or gains in suden oucomes. Y Ye e or oo long, resear researchers, chers, academics, and oher educaion educaion reormers have simply no ocused on curriculum and is associaed effeciveness. Te mos recen recen major sudy o ake a naional in-deph look a he policy issues surrounding ex books and curriculum, or insance, was published in 2004.10 Plus mos curricula have no been subjec o rigorous impac evaluaions, evaluaions, and daa do no exis on he insrucional producs used in he vas majoriy o saes. Some expers have called or daa collecion effors ha will wil l enable more effeciveness sudies so ha saes and disrics can make beter inormed decisions. 11
4
Center for o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form for American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of
Specifically, Chingos and W Specifically, Whiehurs hiehurs propose ha saes begin by collecing daa on he curricula adoped by all disrics in he sae. No a single sae currenly conducs his pracice. Knowing wha producs are used is he firs sep oward assessing curriculum effeciveness by linking he curriculum-use daa o he longiudinal suden-level daabases ha mos saes now have in place.12 While daa collecion effors should cerainly be underaken, his repor will w ill address a relaed se o quesions: How are curriculum adopion decisions made? How much do differen insrucional producs cos, and do saes pay differen amouns or he same produc? Is here any relaionship beween curriculum price and qualiy? How does he reurn on invesmen o adoping new curricula compare o ha o oher educaional inervenions? iner venions? Saes, school disrics, and schools need answers o hese quesions i he resuls o curriculum effeciveness sudiesboh exising and neware o leverage curriculum reorm as a sraegy o improve suden learning in a cosresrained environmen.
Methodology Tis repor examines wheher here is significan variaion in how much differen saes pay or he same insrucional maerials as well as wheher so-called recommend saes and sugges saeswhich are defined in a subsequen secion o his reporpa reporpayy similar prices or he same exbooks. In order o deermine he answers o hese quesions, he auhors colleced price daa on adoped elemenary mah insrucional maerials rom 19 saes: Alabama, Arkansas, Arkansa s, Calior Caliornia, nia, Fl Florida, orida, Georgia, Idaho, Kenucky, Mississipp Mississippi,i, Norh Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Souh Carolina, ennessee, exas, Uah, Virginia, and Wes Virginia. Te auhors firs compiled all o he readily available price daa rom exbook adopion liss ha were posed on sae educaion agencies’, or SEA’s, websies, and hen recorded he produc name; inernaional sandard book number, number, or ISBN; grade level; and year o adopion, or each primary insrucional maerial lised on a sae’s sae’s adopion lis. Te auhors decided no o include ancillary maerials. I a price lis or elemenary elemenar y mah exbooks was no available on a exbook adopion sae’s websie, hen he auhors sen an email o he sae’s lised conacs or curriculum and communicaions requesing a lis o adoped elemenary mah insrucional maerials.
5
Center for o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form for American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of
Te auhors hen convered all prices o 2014 dollars and convered muli-suden bundles ino per-suden prices by dividing he bundle price by he number o sudens. Te auhors ocused on he 114 producs ha appear on he lis o a leas wo saes and mached producs across saes using heir ISBN. Tey also analyzed he relaionship beween price and qualiy by collecing price daa or insrucional insruc ional maerials included in he U.S. Deparmen o Educaion’s Insiue o Educaion Sciences’, Sciences’, or IES’, randomized conrolled rial on he effeciveness o insrucional maerials. Price daa were colleced rom publishers’ websies or he our curricula included in he RC and hen he auhors compared he qualiy differences o he price differences or six pairs o producs. Tey hen compared he relaive cos and benefi o swiching o a new curriculum o oher educaional policies ha were included in an influenial paper by economis Doug Harris.
Limitations
Tis repor provides new evidence ev idence on how curricula are seleced across he counry, as well as a comprehensive analysis o how schools could increase suden achievemen hrough curriculum reorm. Howe However, ver, here are a ew caveas ha he auhors believe are imporan o acknowledge. For one, he auhors did no examine digial or oher online curricula. Also, due o he lac lackk o highhigh-quali qualiyy sudie sudiess on cu curricul rriculum um effec effeciveness, iveness, he auhors relied on a single sudy or heir analysis o he he relaionship beween price and qualiy qualiy.. Specifically, hey looked a he Mahemaica Policy Research and SRI Inernaional sudy, an RC ha was sponsored by he Insiue o Educaion Sciences, or IES, and released in 2010. Te sudy is a randomized conrolled rial, which is ofen called he gold sandard in educaion research because i all allows ows researcher researcherss o isolae he caus causal al effec o an iner venion by ru rulling ou all oher possible conounding acors. Tis paricular RC sudy allows one o examine, or a limied se o producs, wheher here is any relaionship beweenn pric bewee pricee and qquali ualiyy and w wha ha ROI sch schools ools may rece receive ive rom invesing in beter producs. produ cs. Tere are a han handul dul o high-qu high-qualiy aliy non-ex non-experimen perimenal al sud sudies ies on curriculum effeciveness, bu he auhors did no include hese sudies in heir analysis because hese sudies do no rule r ule ou he poenial or bias o he same degree ha RCs do. In ac, i is no unusual or he findings o RCs o conradic he findings o non-experimenal sudies. 13
6
Center for o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form for American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of
Te IES sudy isel has some limiaions. For insance, i only examined a paricular group o sudens, who w ho were rom relaively disadvanaged amilies, a one 14 poin in ime. Also, wihin he IES sudy, he same curricula had varying vary ing impac beween firs and second grade. For For example, he Inves Invesigaions igaions in N Number, umber, Da Daa, a, and Space curriculum had he same effec on firs-grade achievemen as he Scot Foresman-Addison Wesley Mahemaics, or SFAW, curriculum, bu second-grade sudens assigned o he Invesigaions curriculum perormed .09 grade levels beer a he end o he year han sudens augh using SFAW.15 Tese inconsisen resuls across grade levels and populaions suppor he need or more research on curriculum effeciveness, as well as disaggregaed effeciveness resuls by grade level and demographic acors. In oher words, a curriculum ha has a rack record o success or firs graders in Beverly Hills, Caliornia, will no necessarily yield he same posiive suden-achievemen gains gains in a firs-grade class in Los Angeles or even anoher grade wihin he Beverly Hills school disric. Sudies on curriculum effeciveness e ffeciveness have oher caveas. Tere simply is no enough evidence o make clear conclusions abou pedagogy pedagogy,, alhough some o he he 16 curricula do ake differen approaches o eaching mah. I is also imporan o noe ha alignmen beween a curriculum and is assessmen could affec esimaes o curriculum effeciveness.17 Finally, because he manner in which eachers ranslae curricula ino insrucion unolds in classrooms, ha exac ranslaion remains beyond he scope o his repor.18 In erms o calculaing he ROI o curricula and oher educaional inervenions, here are oher caveas. For insance, his repor compares a low-cos inervenionbuying new insrucional maerialso many high-cos high-cos inervenions. A school can easily spend $1,000 per suden on class-size reducion, or insance, bu i would be very unlikely o spend ha much on exbooks. However, However, he daa make he case ha swiching o a higher-qualiy curriculum is a worhwhile reorm o improve suden achievemen.
7
Center for o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form for American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of
How curriculum decisions are made Te process o curriculum adopion varies widely. Across he counry, 19 saes have a sae-level adopion process or insrucional maerials bu leave he final selecion decisions o individual disrics.19 In mos o he oher saes, disrics selec maerials wih no direc inpu rom he sae. Finally Finally,, here are saes ha dey easy caegorizaionsuch as Indiana, which recommends elemenary reading primary exbooks bu no oher insrucional maerials. Wh ile researc While researchh suggess ha he conen in included cluded in exbook exbookss shapes wha iiss augh in classrooms, individual eachers ulimaely deermine how o implemen seleced maerials.20 eachers deermine which sudens use which maerials and how hese sudens use hose maerials. Ta issue, however, however, is ouside he scope o his repor. Tis repor firs provides a comprehensive look a how saes are involvedor no involvedinn curriculum selecion in each o he 50 saes. O he 19 saes wih involvedi any ormal process, 9 compile a lis o maerials rom which school disrics are required or srongly encouraged o use when selecing a curriculum. Saes ha use his process are called recommend saes.21 For example, disrics in Souh Carolina choose exbooks rom a comprehensive sae-approved sae-approved lis o maerials and submi heir exbook orders direcly o he sae.22 Florida requires disrics o spend a leas 50 percen o heir insrucional maerials unding allocaion rom he sae on approved maerials unless disrics op o conduc heir own adopion process.23 And Alabama also has a sae-approved lis, bu i allows disrics o reques permission o use oher maerials.24 Te oher 10 saes wih some kind o ormal process p rocess provide a lis o maerials bu do no require ha saes saes choose rom he lis. Saes Saes ha ollow his model are designaed as sugges saes. For example, he adopion process in exas is ofen poliically raugh, bu disrics are ree o adop any maerials maerials hey preer.25 Caliornia has a similar policy or grades K-8, bu he adopion o maerials or 26
grades 9-12 is lef compleely o disrics.
8
Center for o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form for American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of
Te map below shows ha, wih some eexcepions, xcepions, recommend and sugges saes are locaed largely in he Souh, wih w ih Norhern saes more likely o have so-called open adopion policies. In recen years, a number o saes have decenralized heir exbook adopion decisions by providing disrics wih more flexibiliy flexibi liy in selecing insrucional maerials. Saes such as Caliornia and exas now allow disrics o choose exbooks ha have no been adoped by he sae, and Arkansas 27
decided o sop is adopion process alogeher alogeher.. FIGURE 1
State textbook adoption classifications
Open Suggest Recommend
Source: The authors classified states based on information provided on state education agencies' websites and through the following sources: State Instructional Materials Review Association, "State Resources," available at http://simra.us/wp/state-links/ http://simra.us/wp/state-links/ (last accessed September 2015); Personal communication with State Education Agencies; Catherine Gewertz, comment on "Textbook Authority Shifting Slowly From States to Districts," comment posted on January 27, 2015, available at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curricuhttp://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2015/01/textbook_authority_shifting_ lum/2015/01/textbook_aut hority_shifting_from_states_to_di from_states_to_districts.html. stricts.html.
TABLE 1
Textbook adoption process classifications Recommend state
Districts choose textbooks from a recommended list prepared by the state or request permission to select a textbook that t hat is not on the state’s adoption recommended recommended list.
Suggest state
Districts choose textbooks from a recommended list prepared by the state education agency, or SEA, but local school boards can freely opt to use textbooks that are not approved by the SEA.
Ope pen n sta state te
Tex extb tbo ook ado adopt ptio ion n de deci cisi sio ons are are m mad adee at at tth he loc local al lev level. el.
Source: The authors created the three textbook adoption process classifications based on an analysis of states’ textbook adoption policies. The authors collected information information on textbook adoption policies icies from state education agencies’ websites and through through the following sour sources: ces: State Instructional Materials Review Association, “State “State Resources,” av available ailable at http://simra.us/ http://simra.us/wp/state-links/ wp/state-links/ (last accessed September 2015); Personal communication with State Education Agencies; Catherine Gewertz, comment on “Textbook Authority Shifting Slowly From States to Districts, ” comment posted on January 27, 2015, available at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2015/01/t http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2015/01/textbook_authority_shiftextbook_authority_shifting_from_states_to_districts.html.
9
Center for o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form for American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of
Te auhors carried ou case sudies o he adopion process in hree recommend saes and wo sugges saes. Te adopion processes in hese five saes are described in deail in Appendix B, bu all ollow a similar ouline: Saes aim o adop maerials in specified subjecs a semi-regular inervals, which range rom five o eigh years. However, someimes sae unding issues can delay he adopion process. Te However, sae appoins reviewers responsible or evaluaing he maerials, which are usually submited by publishers. Te main crierion used by reviewers is a maerial’s alignmen o he sae’s sandards. Each sae’s board o educaion or commissioner o educaion makes he final adopion decisions based on he reviewers’ recommendaions and he public’s commens. Alhough saes do review review curriculum maerials, hey ypically yp ically rely on limied measures o qualiy. A number o saes, or insance, evaluae alignmen beween he sandards and he curriculum using a checklis-like approach raher han a deep evaluaion.28 Evaluaors also ofen rely on maerial produced by he publishers hemselves o judge alignmen.29 Tis means ha here is ofen litle reason or publishers o work hard o produce high-qualiy curriculum. However, However, publishers also have litle incenive o exclude conen ha is only loosely relaed o he sae sandards, since alignmen and qualiy measures generally do no penalize publishers or including exraneous conen.30 More broadly, a number o sudies have shown ha he adopion process does no sufficienly look a issues o effeciveness. 31 Par o he issue is poliical, and when i comes o exbooks, wha ends o make headlines are issues relaed o religion or ho-buton science opics. In exas, exas, or insance, a recen adopion process ocused on debaes over wheher or no Moses inspired America’s Founding Fahers.32 Tere have also been debaes over he role o evoluion and climae change in exbooks. 33 Such heaed poliical debaes debaes are a y ype pe o disracion, and saes ofen ail o ocus in any significan way on issues o effeciveness. Poliics may also help explain why issues o alignmen are ofen overlooked, and a number o recen sudies show ha he supposedly Common Core-ali Core-aligned gned exbooks are no 34 all ha aligned. Moreover, a ew large saes wih highly poliicized exbook adopion processessuch as exasofen hold a lo o sway in he exbook business because o heir “marke clou.”35
10
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
In open-adopion saes, disrics are responsible or selecing insrucional maerials wihou being provided a lis o possibiliies by he sae. Previous research indicaes ha some open-adopion saes ake a more acive role in selecion decisions han ohers, bu ha in hese saes “one o he mos rused r used resources was daa rom ‘disrics ‘disrics like us’ us’neighboring neighboring or demogr demographically aphically similar disrics. Almos hal o … [disric] [disric] curriculum leaders conaced conaced colleagues in oher dis36
rics o discover which programs hey should be seriously considering.” Te auhors o his repor conduced case sudies o eigh disrics locaed in five open-adopion saes. (see (see Appendix B) As par o heir analysis, hey looked a disrics in Alaska, Arizona, Ar izona, Nebraska, Io Iowa, wa, and Illinois, and hey ound ha he adopion process was largely he same across he disrics. Specifically, he process generally begins wih appoining a commitee ha includes some mix o sakeholderssuch as eachers, adminisraors, school board members, parens, sudens, and communiy members. Te commitee eiher makes he final adopion decision or reviews maerials and makes recommendaions o he school board, which hen makes he final decision. wo excepions sood ou among he eigh case sudies. Te firs was Chicago Public Schools, which does no have a ormal, disricwide adopion process or insrucional maerials. Insead, individual schools make hese decisions and he disric provides some schools wih supplemenal maerials. However, he Chicago disric is currenly developing a ormal process as par o Common Core implemenaion. 37 Te second excepion was Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska, which conducs lenghy implemenaion sudies beore adoping new insrucional maerials. Tese sudies involve ideniying wo ses o schools ha are represenaive represenaive o he disric’s suden populaion populaion and piloing wo ses o insrucional maerials wihin he seleced schools. Te disric hen decides which program o adop based on achievemen daa and eedback rom rom eachers.38 Te example o Lincoln Public Schools highlighs he ac ha disrics seeking relevan, evidence-based inormaion on qualiy ofen need o produce i hemselves. An official rom he Lincoln disric pu i blunly: “Every exbook company will say hey’re 100 percen aligned o he sandards, bu hey’re hey ’re no.”39 None o he case sudies revealed examples o saes or disrics looking or objecive, independen research on he relaive qualiy o producs. However, However, i is difficul o deermine wheher his resuls more rom he dearh o such inormaion or he lack o an ineres in using i.
11
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
Spending on instructional materials Wh en i co When comes mes o ins insruci rucional onal maeria maerials, ls, he here re are wo wo poen poenial ial ways ha ha school sysems can increase he reurn on invesmen o public invesmens: choosing beter producs or negoiaing beter prices. In order o consider wheherr here is signi whehe significan fican room or saes o negoiae bbeter eter pric prices, es, he auhors examined wheher here is significan variaion in how much differen saes pay or he same insrucional maerials. o make ha deerminaion, he auhors colleced price pr ice daa or individual elemenary mah maerials rom 19 saes: Alabama, Arkansas, Caliornia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kenucky, Mississippi, Norh Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Souh Carolina, ennessee, exas, Uah, Virginia, and Wes Virginia. All prices were convered convered o 2014 dollars and he auhors convered convered 40 muli-suden bundles ino per-suden prices. Te auhors ocused on he 114 producs rom 17 saes ha appear on he lis o more han one sae and mached producs across saes using heir Inernaional Sandard Book Number.41 Tese producs have an average price o $34 per suden or 0.32 percen o a school disric’s average average spending per pupil.42 However, he auhors’ calculaions do no accoun or he digial componens, However, ancillary maerials, eacher proessio proessional nal developmen aligned o curricula, curr icula, and eachers’ ediions used in classrooms. Given he lack o cos variaion var iaion among primary insrucional producs, here is litle reason o believe ha he exbook supplemens or digial offerings would vary significanly in erms o cos, alhough o course hey can add o he overall cos. During he research or his repor, he auhors ound a wide w ide range o maerials on sae adopion liss. In some areas, he sae provides a very long and deailed lis o recommended iems.43 Tere is very litle evidence ev idence ha differen saes pay markedly markedly differen prices or he same produc. Te difference beween he minimum and maximum paid or each produc averaged $1.47, or abou 5 percen o he minimum price. I is imporan o noe, however however,, ha even a large difference in percenage erms
12
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
would sill ranslae ino a small difference difference in dollars, given how litle is spen on insrucional producs. Te figure below shows ha he difference beween he lowes and highes prices paid by saes was less han 1 percen or 30 percen o producs. Te range in prices was less han 10 percen or 85 percen o producs. Tis finding is consisen wih evidence rom he adopion case sudies, where he auhors ound ha many saes require publishers o give hem he lowes price 44
available naionwide. FIGURE 2
The difference between the lowest and highest instructional materials prices paid by states <1%
30%
1–5%
35%
5–10%
20%
10–15%
15%+
9% 6%
Note: Price data represent 114 elementary math materials from 17 states that appear on the list of more than one st ate. The price lists were either available on a state education agency's website or sent to the authors by a state education agency's curriculum director or press contact. The authors matched products across states using their ISBN number, converted all prices to 2014 dollars, and converted multistudent bundles into per-student prices All data are on file with the authors. Source: The authors first compiled all of the readily available price data from textbook adoption lists that were posted on state education agencies’, or SEA’s, websites. If a price list for elementary math textbooks was not available on a textbook adoption state’s website, then the authors sent an email to t he state’s listed contacts for curriculum and communications requesting a list of adopted elementary math instructional materials.
In heir research, he auhors esed an addiional hypohesis ha recommend saes migh be able o negoiae a beter price han sugges saes because disrics are required o buy rom a sae-approved lis in recommend saes bu no in sugges saes. Te repor finds no correlaion beween recommend or sugges saus and prices o insrucional maerials. For he 224 observaions o 69 unique producs sold in boh a sugges sae and a recommend sae, on average, he price is $0.12 lower in he recommend sae, a small and saisically insignifican difference.
13
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
Th e rel The relat atio ions nshi hip p be bett we ween en price and quality Tere is very litle rigorous rese research arch on he qualiy o mos insrucional maerials used in schools oday, and ha leaves review commitees o rely on publishers’ markeing and heir own judgmens. Tere is presenly only one randomized experimen o he effeciveness o insrucional maerials, he previously menioned Mahemaica Policy Research and SRI Inernaional randomized conrolled rial carried ou or he Insiue o Educaion Sciences.45 Tis sudy ound ha classes randomly assigned o cerain curricula ared much beter on mah ess a he end o fifirs rs and second grad gradee han classes ran randomly domly assigned o oher curricula. Te auhors used his sudy o deermine wheher here is a relaionship beween price and qualiy quali y o insrucional maerials. Combining he average effecs on mah es scores in firs and second grade, he wors produc o he our was Scot Scot Fores Foresman-Addison man-Addison W Wesley esley Mahemaics, or SFAW. Compared o classrooms using SFAW, classrooms using Invesigaions in Number,, Daa, and Space perormed 0.05 grade levels beter a he end o he year, Number hose using Mah Expressions did 0.12 grade levels beter, and hose using Saxon Mah perormed 0.13 grade levels beter beter..46 TABLE 2
The effectiveness of four early elementary school math curricula Cu rricu lu m
F i r s t - gr a d e e f f e c t
S e co n d - gr a d e e f f e c t
Investigations in Number, Data, and Space
0.00
0.09
Math Expressions
0.11
0.12
Saxon Math
0.07
0.17
Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics
0.00
0.00
Note: Effects are calculated relative to the lowest-performing curriculum, which is assigned an effect of 0.00. Source: Roberto Agodini and others, “A “Achievement chievement Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math Curricula: Findings for First and Second Graders” (Princeton, (Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. and SRI International, 2010), available at http://www.mat http://www.mathematica-mpr hematica-mpr.com/~/ .com/~/ media/publications/PDFs/Education/ media/publications/ PDFs/Education/mathcurricula_fstsn mathcurricula_fstsndgrade.pdf. dgrade.pdf.
14
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
For his repor, he auhors merged he effeciveness resuls rom he RC wih curricula price daa, using prices rom publishers’ websies.47 Te merged qualiyprice daa were used o address hree relaed quesions: 1. Is here a relaionsh relaionship ip beween price and qualiy? In oher words, do higher qualiy producs cos more? 2. Is i a good use o resources or schoo schools ls o hrow ou he curren curriculum in order o buy a new curriculum? Does a larger improvemen in qualiy cos more? 3. How does he reurn on invesmen o curriculum compare o he ROI o oher educaional inervenions? Tere are six pairs o producs ha can be compared o each oher using he RC. Te figure below compares he qualiy differences o he price differences or all six pairs o producs. For example, he lef-mos daa poin shows ha, or he pair o producs where Saxon Mah is higher qualiy and Mah Expressions is lower qualiy, Saxon Mah produces suden achievemen 0.01 grade levels higher a a price ha is $1.16 lower per suden.
FIGURE 3
The relationship between price and quality differences for instructional materials $0 -$3 e c n e r e ff i d e c i r P
-$6 -$9
-$12 -$15 0.00
0.03
0.06
0.09
0.12
0.15
Improvement in quality in grade levels Intervention: ➊ Choose Investigations in Number, Data, and Space over Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics ➋ Choose Math Expressions over Investigations in Number, Data, and Space ➌ Choose Math Expressions over Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics ➍ Choose Saxon Math over Investigations in Number, Data, and Space ➎ Choose Saxon Math over Math Expressions ➏ Choose Saxon Math over Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics Note: The authors collected price data for all curricula included included in the only high-quality curriculum effectiveness effectiveness study, which is a randomized controlled trial carried out by researchers at Mathematica Policy Research and SRI International for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Science, or IES. The price data for the four curricula included in the IES study came from prices listed on publishers’ websites. Source: Roberto Agodini and others, “Achievement Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math Curricula: Findings for First and Second Graders” (Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. and SRI International, 2010), available at http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/~/media/publications/PDFs/Education/mathcurricula_fstsndgrade.pdf.
15
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
Alhough he Alhough here re ar aree only six da daa a poin poins s in h his is su sudy dy,, her heree does no app appear ear oo be much o a relaionship beween price and qualiy. All o he differences in price are quie smallno more han $13 per suden. An increase in qualiy does no appear o ranslae ino an increase in price. I anyhing, he higher-qualiy producs end o cos less, as shown by he ac ha all o he price differences are negaive.48 A second approa approach ch is o as askk wheher i ma makes kes sens sensee or scho schools ols o hr hrow ow ou he produc hey currenly use in order o buy a higher-qualiy produc. From his perspecive, he school has o pay he ull cos o he higher-qualiy producno jus he difference beween he wo producsbecause wha i spen on he old produc is a sunk cos. Te figure below shows, or he same six pairs o producs, how much i would cos o abandon he old produc and buy a higher-qualiy produc. For example, he lef-mos daa poin in he figure below is or he same wo producs cied above: Saxon Mah and Mah Expressions. A school considering swiching o he beter producSaxon Mahwould expec o gain 0.01 grade levels in suden achievemen and ace he ull per-suden cos o Saxon Mah, $36.13.49
FIGURE 4
Relationship between price and quality for instructional materials $40
$39
$38 e c i r P
$37
$36
$35 0.00
0.03
0.06
0.09
0.12
0.15
Improvement in quality in grade levels Intervention: ➊ Switch Investigations in Number, Data, and Space to Math Expressions ➋ Switch Investigations in Number, Data, and Space to Saxon Math ➌ Switch Scott Foresman-Addison Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics to Investigations in Number, Data, and Space ➍ Switch Scott Foresman-Addison Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics to Math Expressions ➎ Switch Scott Foresman-Addison Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics to Saxon Math ➏ Switch Math Expressions to Saxon Math Note: The authors collected price data for all curricula included in the only high-quality curriculum effectiveness study, which is a randomized controlled trial carried out by researchers at Mathematica Policy Research and SRI International for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Science, or IES. The price data for the four curricula included in the IES study came from prices listed on publishers’ websites. Source: Roberto Agodini and others, “Achievement Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math Curricula: Findings for First and Second Graders” (Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. and SRI International, 2010), available at http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/~/media/publications/PDFs/Education/mathcurricula_fstsndgrade.pdf.
16
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
Once again, here is litle relaionship beween price and qualiy. I anyhing, a larger improvemen in qualiy may come a a slighly lower cos. However, However, i is imporan o noe ha here is no much opporuniy opporuni y or a subsanively imporan relaionship beween price and qualiy given g iven ha here is no much variaion in prices. Tese daa also al so show ha educaionally meaningul improvemens in qualiy o up o 0.13 grade levels can be achieved or a very modes cos: less han 50
$40 per suden, or abou 0.4 percen o averag averagee curren spending per suden. Anoher way o hin hinkk abou his idea is ha schools m make ake financ financial ial radeo radeoffs ffs among differen possible uses o heir money money,, and hus hey should compare he expeced impac o spending a dollar on a new curriculum o spending ha same dollar on new echnology echnology,, lower class sizes, or higher eacher salaries, o cie jus a ew possibiliies. Consequenly Consequenly,, schools mus compare he coss and benefiss o he benefi hese se compe compeing ing aler alernaives. naives. Te auhors use heir qualiy-price daa on elemenar elemenaryy mah curricula included in he RC o compare he relaive coss and benefis o swiching o a new curriculum o implemening oher educaional policies, drawing rom an influenial paper by economis Doug Harris.51 Te figure below shows he ROI o swiching o a higher-qualiy curriculumas measured by he benefi-cos raioor he six curriculum comparisons and various oher educaional inervenions, such as smaller class sizes. As noed above, he key issue here is ha curriculum reorm is much cheaper han oher inervenions. iner venions. In oher words, he auhors are no arguing ha saes and disrics should rerain rom eacher reorms or preschool iniiaives. Raher, hey are simply arguing ha curriculum reorm can deliver good bang or he buck, and hey find ha swiching o a higher-qualiy higher-qualiy curriculum has a large ROI relaive o oher educaional policies. Across he six curricula comparisons, he average cos-effeciveness raioalso reerred o here as ROIis 1.95, which is 39 imes he ROI o class-size reducion.52
17
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
FIGURE 5
The return on investment of educational policies Cost-effectiveness ratio Class size (STAR) 0.05 Computer-aided instruction 0.54 Peer and adult cross-age tutoring 0.81 Peer cross-age tutoring 1.26 Adult cross-age tutoring 0.27 Abecedarian child care 0.01 Instructional time 0.36 Success for All 0.07
Switch Investigations in Number, Data, and Space to Math Expressions 1.88 Switch Investigations in Number, Data, and Space to Saxon Math 2.08 Switch Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics to Investigations in Number, Data, and Space 1.18 Switch Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics to Math Expressions 3.08 Switch Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics to Saxon Math 3.32 Switch Math Expressions to Saxon Math 0.14 Note: The authors adjust all of the cost-effectiveness ratio—the measure referred to as ROI in this report—reported in Harris’ study by inflating costs to 2014 dollars. The authors collected price data for all curricula included in the only high-quality curriculum effectiveness study, which is a randomized controlled trial carried out by researchers at Mathematica Policy Research and SRI International for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, or IES. The price data for the four curricula included in the IES study came from prices listed on publishers’ websites. Source: Douglas N. Harris, “Toward Policy-Relevant Benchmarks for Interpreting Effect Sizes: Combining Effects With Costs,” Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis 31 (1) (2009): 3–29.
Tese daa make a compelling case ha i schools have access o objecive and reliable inormaion on curriculum qualiy, hey should hrow ou a lower qualiy produc and buy a higher qualiy produc wihou hesiaion. Similarly, invesinvesmens ino research on curriculum effeciveness also can produce a very high ROI by enabling schools o make make such ROI-enha ROI-enhancing ncing decisions.
18
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
Findings Tis repor invesigaes he curren curricula landscape and deermines wheher curriculum reorm is an effecive and producive sraegy o improve suden achievemen. Below are he repor’s major findings.
Higher-quality instructional materials in elementary school math can come at a relatively low cost For he same six pairs o producs, he auhors looked a how much i would cos or a school o swich rom a lower-qualiy produc o a higher-qualiy one in elemenary school mah. Te coss were relaively low or swiching o a higher-qualiy produc. For insance, he highes-qualiy elemenary school mah curriculum coss jus $36 per suden. 53 Plus, publishers end o charge all saes roughly he same price or heir maerials.54 Tis means ha nearly all opporuniies or boosing reurn on invesmen invesmen are a mater o choosing he bes produc, p roduc, nno o findi finding ng a beter price. Anoher way o hink abou his idea is ha ha swiching curricula is a producive way or schools o experience subsanial subsanial suden-achievemen suden-achievemen gains or a small cos. I a school allos approximaely 0.4 percen o he average curren spending per suden o purchase beter insrucional insruc ional maerials, he daa sugges ha he school will have significan improvemens in suden achievemen.
More rigorous elementary school math curricula can deliver far more bang for the buck than other reforms Te auhors compared he cos-effeciveness raio or each o he six pairs o elemenary mah curricula ha have been subjec o a rigorous evaluaion, and hey ound ha swiching o a higher-qualiy curriculum has a huge produciviy boos. Across Ac ross he six cu curricul rriculaa compari comparisons sons incl included uded in a high-q high-qualiy ualiy curri curricuculum effeciveness sudy, he average cos-effeciveness cos-effeciveness raio is almos 40 imes he ROI in class-size reducion.55 19
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
As par par o h heir eir research, he au auhors hors al also so looked o see i ROI resuls would change significanly significanly by using he findings rom a differen curriculum sudy ha also looked a effecs on suden oucomes. Specifically, Specifically, hey analyzed he hree curricula comparisons rom a recen sudy in Indiana and ound ha he average cos-effecivenesss raio remains he same, around 40 imes he ROI o class-size cos-effecivenes reducion.56 In oher words, he average ROI o he Indiana comparisons is very similareven slighly higherhan higherhan he averag averagee cos-effeciveness raio or he Insiue o Educaion Sciences sudy. sudy. Boh o hese sudies provide ev evidence idence ha curriculum reorm presens a cos-effecive way o improve suden achievemen given is affordabiliy and efficacy.
When it comes to math curriculum in the early grades, you do not get what you pay for Tere is litle relaionship beween cos and qualiy o insrucional producs, wih he mos mos exp expensive ensive pproduc roduc in he sam samee governme governmen-sponsored n-sponsored sudy cosing abou $13 per suden more han he leas expensive produc. I anyhing, he higher-qualiy producs end o cos less, and in some cases, he mos expensive curriculum was among he leas effecive and he leas expensive was among he mos effecive. Given ha higher-qualiy producs end o cos less, i may be hard o undersand why schools do no adop more effecive producs. producs. How However, ever, as noed eearlier arlier in his repor, he issue wih curriculum selecion is no he cos o high-qualiy producs, bu he lack o research on curriculum effeciveness.
Policy decisions often do not consider rigorous measures of curriculum quality Te discussion o he adopion o exbooks and oher insrucional maerial ofen seems o be dominaed by poliics raher han subsance, and evaluaors ofen do no appear o make use o he limied evidence base on curriculum qualiy ha exiss. ex iss. Insead, adopio adopionn decisions are ofen based on limied assessmens o qualiy and weak proxies or alignmen o sae sandards. sandards. Tis repor ound, or insance, ha exbooks in exas need o cover only 50 percen o he
20
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
sae’s grade-level sandards, and reviewers in he sae don’ consider wheher or no he exbook conains exraneous maerial.57 In oher words, he sae’s exbooks can cover a lo o maerial ha’s no in he sandards. In Caliornia, reviewers ofen rely on “sandard maps” provided by he publisher hemselves.58 Te resul is ha schools ofen use misaligned exbooks, and sudies have shown ha here is a clear gap beween wha publishers59 say is aligned o sae sandards or effecive and wha ruly fis hose crieria. Te auhors’ research or his repor reveals anoher wrinkle o his research, and i appears ha some disrics are aware o he ac ha publishers will wi ll exaggerae heir exbooks’ alignmen o he sae sandards. However, disric leaders also say ha eachers wih an in-deph undersanding o he curriculum and sandards are able o assess alignmen o he sandards o he curriculum.60
21
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
Recommendations Based on he analysis and findings o his repor, he auhors propose he ollowing recommendaions recommendaions..
The fede dera rall go gove vern rnme ment nt sh shou ould ld in inve vest st Th e fe in rigorous curriculum studies I is hard or observers o judge he qualiy o curriculum c urriculum i here is litle evidence ev idence on he effeciveness o mos producs. While curren law prohibis he ederal governmen rom exercising “any “any direcion, supervision, or conrol over he curriculum,”” he law does no preclude he ederal governmen rom researching curriculum, curricula ha are already available o saes and disrics.61 Te ederal governmen has a clear role o play in coninuing o suppor his his research hrough he Insiue o Educaion Sciences. Randomized experimensalhough expensive o conduccan have large reurns on invesmen since he resuls can immediaely inorm selecion and purchasing decisions around effecive insrucional insruc ional maerials ha benefi millions o sudens and housands o disrics. Te ROI o curriculum reorm is many imes ha o invesmens in oher policies. Te ac is ha here has been only o one RCabove. o curricular effeciveness hard o jusiy in ligh heederally evidenceunded discussed Te auhors believe ha he ederal governmen should approach curricular sudies similar o he way ha he U.S. Food and Drug Adminisraion ves producs: by aggressively aggressiv ely evaluaing and publicizing heir heir qualiy and research base base.. An RC on curriculum effeciveness coss approxima approximaely ely $10 mi millionor llionor .01 percen o he Deparmen o Educaion’s discreionary appropriaions. 62 A relaively small research invesmen invesmen can have a subsanial ROI by providing saes and disrics wih impora imporan n inor inormaion maion on he eff effecivene eciveness ss o ins insrucio rucional nal maeria maerialsal lsalll while barely mak making ing a de den n in he he overal overalll educa educaion ion budge budge..
22
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
Sae educaion agencies, or SEAs, also have a role o play in collecing and making available he daa needed or sudies o curriculum qualiy quali y. However However,, effeciveness sudies are only possible i here are daa on which schools are using which producs. Saes should enhance heir longiudinal educaion daabases o include his inormaion in order o enable researchers o examine curricular effeciveness across a range o conexs and suden populaions.
Improve adoption processes at the state level Nineeen saes have have a cur curriculum riculum adopion process ha yields a lis o producs ha schools eiher mus use o selec insrucional maerials or are encouraged o use when adoping producs. Tese processes ollow a similar patern across saes, and in mos places, hey have been ollowed or decades. Tese processes overly emphasize impressionisic judgmens o qualiy based on checklis approaches o measuring alignmen. Moreover, many o he exbooks ha are adoped are no acually aligned wih sandards; his is a long-sanding problem ha has been highlighed by he implemenaion o he new Common Core sandards.63 When hard evidence on curriculum qualiy is available in some areas, educaors should use hose daa as opposed o making adopion decisions based on sales piches and he prevailing poliical headwinds. Addiionally Addiionally,, saes should dich heir largely haphazard approaches o measuring alignmen and insead commission proessional alignmen sudies o proposed curricula. A model or his work is some o he research on he alignmen beween sae ess and sae conen sandards, which has ound ha only hal o he conen o sae ess is par o he sandards.64 Te cos o developing and implemening rigorous measures o curriculum alignmen beseveral relaively small on a per-suden basis, considering ha adopion cycleswould run or years. In he subsanial number o saes ha do no have an adopion process, individual disrics have o evaluae insrucional maerials on heir own. Tere would be significan efficiencies in creaing a saewide process ha would help disrics narrow down he lis o considered producs and provide acionable inormaion o aid in selecion decisions. Te auhors recommend ha every sae become a sugges sae, so ha disrics receive recommendaions rom he sae bu are ree o ignore hem. Tis, in ac, is why he auhors do no endorse saes becoming recommend saes: Disrics should have some flexibiliy when i comes o curriculum.
23
or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form Center ffor
In his regard, Louisiana is a shining sar. Te sae iniially delayed is adopion process due o a lack o high-qualiy maerials, as well as issues wih Common Core alignmen.65 Afer resuming he process, Louisiana published annoaed reviews o insrucional maerials and grouped maerials ino hree iers: exemplifies qualiy, approaching qualiy, and no represening qualiy quali y.66 Looking orward, all saes should coninue o allow schools o selec he produc ha bes serves ser ves is sudens’ needs, bu hey mus also provide clear and accurae inormaion inormaion abou qualiy ha obv obviaes iaes he need or every disric o figure his ou on is own.
Improve selection decisions at the district level School disrics have long sruggled o make inormed curriculum decisions, in large par due o a lack o good inormaion on qualiy. Improving he adopion process a he sae level will be an imporan sep in he righ direcion. Bu disrics sill need o choose he righ produc rom he lis o opions provided by he sae or anoher produc when appropriae. Te number o choices can be overwhelming, and given he flaws o exising adopion processes, i is difficul or disrics o know wheher o rus he recommendaions embodied in he sae’s adopion decisions. And o course no such inormaion is provided in open-adopion saes. One promising sraegy currenly in use in some disrics is o pilo new producs alongside exising producs in order o produce evidence on effeciveness beore commiting com miting o he he new produc. 67 I done well, pilo p ilo sudies can measure how well he produc works as implemened in a given disric, which may be more relevan atracive han evidence on how i worked someplace else. Tis approach is paricularly in larger disrics ha can pilo differen producs and have he inernal capaciy o evaluae he resuls. Anoher promising promising pr pracice acice is h hee developme developmen n o rubrics. A Achieve, chieve, a W Washingo ashingon, n, D.C., educaion reorm organizaion, or insance, sared he Educaors Evaluaing he Qualiy o Insrucional Producs, or EQuIP, iniiaive, which allows educaors o evaluae Common Core insrucional maerials using he EQuIP rubrics.68 Te reorm group Change he Equaion has developed a rubric in he science, echnology, engineering, and mahemaics, or SEM, fields o evaluae “programs ha are mos likely o ... maximize he impac o heir invesmens.”69 Saes and ouside organizaions could build on hese programs and creae rubrics specifically ailored o evaluaing he efficacy o various curricula. In urn, hese rubrics could be validaed using suden achievemen daa.
24
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Given he curren dearh o high-qualiy evidence ev idence on curriculum qualiy, disrics can also improve heir capaciy o make well-inormed curriculum adopion decisions by creaing neworks or sharing inormaion across disrics wihin a sae. While judgmens o qualiy by an individual indiv idual disric are likely o be somewha impressionisic, aggregaing aggregaing inormaion across muliple disrics disr ics can increase is reliabiliy.. In any case, inormaion based on ex reliabiliy experience perience using a produc is likely o be superior o claims made by is publisher or a casual review o he prined or digial maerials. Sae educaion agencies could publish disric reviews o insrucional maerials on heir websies so ha he inormaion is readily available or disrics o uilize during he exbook adopion process.
Establish a competitive grant initiative for high-quality curricula Te Common Core presens an opporuniy or disrics and saes o share insrucional maerials and ideniy promising curricula aligned o he sandards. However, Howeve r, i is difficul or hose making adopion decisions o deermine which maerials are boh effecive and aligned o he sandards. Some publishers, or insance, claim heir maerials are Common Core-aligned when he subsance o heir exbooks deviaes rom he sandards.70 Independen groups such as philanhropies should implemen a compeiive gran program whereby nonprofis, small publishing p ublishing companies, and oher innovaors could apply or unding o develop and scale-up promising and effecive curricula. Te gran program would increase he number o high-qualiy maerials in he Common Core markeplace markeplace and provide saes and disrics wih a wider array o opions when selecing insrucional insruc ional maerials. Te gran program should include subsanial unds or rigorous evaluaions and reward innovaion, scalabiliy, and evidence-based research. Disrics would pilo hese maerials, and he resuls o all pilo programs would be available online or saes and disrics o review when making adopion decisions. Te gran program could also und randomized conrol rials, which would compare he effeciveness o differen curricula. eachers, parens, and sudens could also have he opion o boh raing and posing reviews o hese maerials in order o ensure ha sakeholders have access o relevan inormaion beore selecing insrucional maerials. Tis eaure would be similar o he American Federaion o eachers’ “Share My Lesson” websie, websie, where eachers are able o provide oher educaors wih
25
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
classroom resources resources as well as rae insrucional resources.71 Finally, he gran could require ha he resuling documens be Common Core aligned, as well as openly licensed, which would help spark reorm and drive down coss. Tere have been some promising soluions in his space. Te K-12 OER Collaboraive is helping o creae openly licensed, sample unis aligned o he Common Core, or insance.72 Te New York Sae Educaion Deparmen helped creae EngageNY EngageNY, which provides high-qualiy cur curricula ricula unis ha schools can make heir own and evenually led o he Eureka Mah curriculum.73 Suden Achievemen Parnersa Parnersa New Y York ork Ciy nonprofilaunche nonprofilaunchedd Achieve he Core, an online bank o Common Core-aligned lessons.74 Despie hese examples, he auhors believe ha more needs o be done in he curriculum c urriculum space, paricularly around developing demonsraively effecive exbooks, and a compeiive program would help oser he creaion o beter insrucional maerial.
26
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Conclusion Te widespread adopion o he Common Core sandards has creaed creaed a naional marke or insrucional maerials. Publishers will wi ll no longer need o creae producs aligned o he sandards o 50 differen saes, which will creae opporuniies o inves more significanly in he creaion o new producs and open up he marke o smaller players who previously could no compee on a sae-by-sae basis. Pu simply, he need or high-qualiy research research on curriculum qualiy has never been greaer, and an d he ederal gover governmen nmen ha hass a cl clear ear role o play in su suppor pporing ing gold-sandard gold-sanda rd research. Sae governmens can also make imporan conri buions hrough daa collec collecion ion and inormaion dissemina disseminaion. ion. Due o he near-universaliy near-univers aliy o he Common Core, saes, disrics, and philanhropic organizaions can inves in new ools or eliciing eedback rom users and sharing evidence abou maerials’ effeciveness. Producing in-deph inormaion on curriculum qualiy and using i o inorm decisions ha improve suden learning migh no ge as much atenion rom policymakers as more visible vi sible reorms such as reorming eacher evaluaion sysem sysemss or expanding aferschool programs. However, However, policymakers who care abou he U.S. educaion sysem would be remiss o pass up an opporuniy o have meaningul impacs on educaional qualiy a an affordable cos.
27
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
About the Authors Ulrich Boser is a
Senior Fellow a he Cener or American Progress, where he analyzes educaion, criminal jusice, and oher social policy issues. Prior o joining he Cener,, Boser was a conribuing edior or U.S. News & World Report. His wriings Cener have appeared in many publicaions, including Te New York imes, Wall Street Journal, and Te Washington Post. He is working on a book on learning. Matthew Chingos is a senior ellow a he Urban Insiue, where he sudies edu-
caion-relaed opics a boh he K-12 and pos-secondary levels. Beore joining caion-relaed he Urban Insiue, Chingos was a senior ellow a he Brookings Ins Insiuion. iuion. His America’s Public Universities , book, Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s coauhored wih William G. Bowen and Michael S. McPherson, was published by Princeon Universiy Press in 2009. His work has also been published in academic journals including he Journal of Public Economics , , Journal of Policy Policy Analysis and and Management , Educational Evaluation Evaluation and and Policy Analysis Analysis , and Education Finance Finance and Policy. Chingos received a B.A. in governmen and economics and a Ph.D in governmen rom Harvard Universiy. Chelsea Straus is a Policy Analys or he K-12 Educaion Policy eam a American
Progress. Prior o joining American Progress, Sraus was an educaion policy Progress. inern a he American A merican Enerprise Insiue. Sraus previously compleed inernships on he Hill wih w ih boh he House Commitee on he Judiciary and Rep. Jo John hn H. Adler (D-NJ). She graduaed rom Bucknell Universiy in May 2012 wih a bachelor’ss degree in psychology and a minor in American poliics. SSraus bachelor’ raus is a coauhor o his repor and auhored he case sudies in he appendix.
Acknowledgments Te auhors would like o hank Caherine Brown and Carmel Marin or heir invaluable eedback and suppor. We would also like o hank hank he saes and disrics ha alked o us abou heir exbook adopion processes and answered numerous quesions. Morgan Polikoff, Jennier Wole, Doug Harris, and Claus Von Von Zasrow also provided helpul eedback. eedback.
28
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Appendix A TABLE A1
State textbook adoption classifications Sta te
C la s s i fic a tio n
Alabama
Recommend
Alaska
Open
Arizona
Open
Arkansas
Open
California
Suggest
Colorado
Open
Connecticut
Open
Delaware
Open
Florida
Recommend
Georgia
Suggest
No t e s Local school districts can also request permission to adopt a textbook that is not on the state’s adoption list, provided that the textbook is not on the rejected list.
Textbooks are not adopted at the high school level.
As much as 50 percent of annual textbook funding may be used for the purchase of instructional materials that are not included on the state’s adopted list. Alternatively, districts may undertake their own adoption processes independent of the state’ss process. This option was added to the Florida statute state’ in 2013 and expanded in 2014, but districts continue to use state-adopted materials.
Hawaii
Recommend
Hawaii conducted a thorough statewide adoption process for Common Core instructional materials and selected a specific set of instructional materials for each grade level. However, schools may opt to use other materials by filing an exception request and outlining an implementation plan. There are no statewide adoption processes for non-Common Core subjects.
Idaho
Suggest
The state recommends—but does not require—that districts choose materials from the list of vetted and approved materials.
Illinois
Open
Indiana
Open
Iowa
Open
Kansas
Open
Indiana only adopts materials for elementary school reading, which districts are required to use.
29
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Sta te
C la s s i fic a tio n
No t e s
Recommend
Districts must complete a notification process in order to purchase materials that are not on a state list.
Louisiana
Suggest
In Louisiana, all districts are able to purchase instructional materials that are best for their local communities. In order to support districts with these decisions, the Louisiana Department of Education conducts an informal review of instructional materials.
Maine
Open
Maryland
Open
Massachusetts
Open
Michigan
Open
Minnesota
Open
Mississippi
Suggest
Missouri
Open
Montana
Open
Nebraska
Open
Kentucky
Nevada does not actually conduct the adoption process; Nevada
Open
New Hampshire
Open
New Jersey
Open
instead, it requires districts to submit textbooks to the state for approval and adoption.
A minimum of 50 percent of textbook funding may be spent on primary instructional materials that are included on the state’ss authorized adopted list. state’
New Mexico
Recommend
New York
Open
North Carolina
Suggest
North Dakota
Open
Ohio
Open
Oklahoma
Recommend
As much as 20 percent of allocated textbook funds may be used for textbook repair or for student materials that are not adopted.
Oregon
Suggest
School districts may adopt and use textbooks or other instructional materials in place of or in addition to those adopted by the Oregon State Board of Education, provided they meet the state’ss guidelines and criteria. state’
Pennsylvania
Open
Rhode Island
Open
South Carolina
Recommend
South Dakota
Open
Tennessee
Recommend
Once the Tennessee State Board of Education approves the list of textbooks, school districts may choose to adopt a book from the state-approved state-approv ed list or apply for a waiver to use a different text.
30
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Sta te Texas
C la s s i fic a tio n
No t e s
Suggest
Utah
Suggest
Vermont
Open
Virginia
Suggest
Washington
Open
West Virginia
Recommend
Wisconsin
Open
Wyoming
Open
Districts are encouraged to use funds designated for state instructional materials to purchase materials on the recommended instructional materials list, or for advanced placement, International Baccalaureate, concurrent enrollment, and college-level course materials.
Local school boards can use textbooks that are not approved by the Virginia Board of Education, but a local textbook review process must be conducted that includes components similar to the state-level review.
Source: The authors classified states based on information provided on State Education Agencies’, or SEAs’, websites and through the following sources: State Instructional Materials Review Association, “State “State Resources,” av available ailable at http://simra.us/ http://simra.us/wp/state-links/ wp/state-links/ (last accessed September 2015); Personal communication communication with representatives representatives from SEAs, see endnotes 22, 23, 28, 29, 71, 76, 78, 88, 97, 107, 112, 118, 125, 129, 134, 139, and 147; Catherine Gewertz, comment on “Textbook Authority Shifting Slowly From States to Districts,”comment posted January 27, 2015, available at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2015/01/te http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2015/01/textbook_authority_shifting xtbook_authority_shifting_from_states_t _from_states_to_districts. o_districts. html (accessed February 19, 2015).
31
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Appendix B: Case studies State case studies
Alabama: Instructional materials adoption process in a recommend state Overview
exbooks in Alabama are adoped a he sae level, bu disrics may reques permission o use oher insrucional insruc ional maerials ha he sae did no adop. However However,, disrics may no use any exbook rejeced by he sae board o educaion.75 Adop optition on pro ces s Ad
Alabama ypic ypically ally adops nnew ew exb exbooks ooks in each subjec subjec area eve every ry six year years. s. Te adopion process sars in January wih publishers receiving an “inviaion o bid.” Te sae board o educaion appoins 14 educaors and he governor nominaes 9 members rom across he sae o serve on he 23-person Sae exbook Commitee. In he spring, Sae exbook Commitee members atend orienaion and raining. Publishers hen submi exbooks, and he commitee mees over he course o a ew monhs o review submissions using a rubric o evaluae alignmen o he sae sandards.76 In July, he Sae exbook Commitee holds publisher hearings o gain inormaion abou he exbooks ha are under consideraion. Afer holding a public hearing in Sepember, he Sae exbook Commitee voes and submis recommendaions o he sae superinenden o educaion. Te sae superinenden hen makes a recommendaion o he sae board o educaion. Tese recommendaions are publicly announced and he general public may submi commens on hese maerials. In December, he sae board o educaion ulimaely voes on which insrucional maerials o approve approve or he adopion.77
32
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Following he online publicaion o he sae’s insrucional maerials adopion lis, school disrics creae local commitees o review adoped exbooks. Local commitees mus finish heir adopion processes no laer han April 30 and submi a local adopion repor o he sae wihin 30 days. I a disric ops o adop a exbook ha is no on he sae’s adopion lis, he disric mus reques a leter rom he publisher wih an explanaion as o why he insrucional maerial was no included in he sae’s adopion process. Te leter is hen submited o he sae or review and approval. Classroom insrucional maerials mus be adoped by he local board o educaion based on a local exbook commitee’s recommendaion. 78 Changes to adoption process
An inernal ask or orce ce is curre currenly nly reviewing Al Alabama abama’’s adopio adopionn proces process. s. Acco According rding o Marin Dukes, educaion adminisraor or insrucional services wih he Alabama Deparmen Deparmen o Educaio Educaion, n, he sa sae e hopes oo sre sreamline amline he in insrucional srucional maerials review process in order o beter serve local school disrics.79 When asked abou uure changes, Dukes explained ha he does no oresee oresee any immediae changes o Alabama’s exbook adopion process; however, he noed ha i would be valuable o move oward an ongoing review process. Dukes menioned ha a “consumer guidebook” or insrucional maerials would allow saes and disrics o effecively move away rom a ormal adopion process where exbooks are only adoped in each subjec area every six years.80
California: Instructional materials adoption process in a suggest state Overview
exbooks in Caliornia are adoped a hemaerials sae levelrom in grades K-8,s bu disrics are no required o purchase insrucional he sae’ sae’s adopion lis. In grades 9-12, disrics are solely responsible or evaluaing and adoping insrucional maerials.81 Adop on pro ces s Ad optition
Caliornia aims o adop exbooks in he primary curriculum subjecs every eigh years.. H years Howev owever, er, he s sae ae ssuspend uspended ed is adopi adopion on pr process ocess in 2009 due o budge budge 82 consrains. While he suspension lifs his year, he legislaure previously approved he sae o move orward wih adoping mah and English language ars, or ELA, Common Core-aligned maerials.83 Te sae adoped Common Core-aligned mah insrucional maerials in January 2014 and plans o adop Common Core-aligned English language ars, or ELA, insrucional maerials in November 2015. 84
33
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Te adopion process begins when he sae board o educaion selecs insrucional maerials reviewers, or IMRs, and conen review expers, ex pers, or CREs, and holds an inviaion o submi meeing. IMRs are primarily eachers and school adminisraors, while CREs have he conen experise o serve as a resource or research-based research-b ased quesions. Boh ypes o reviewers apply online and are seleced by he sae board o educaion. A he inviaion o submi meeing, he Sae Board o Educaion walks publishers hrough he adopion process, answers any quesions, and provides he publishers wih all he necessary orms.85 IMRs and CREs are hen rained over our days and publishers presen heir submited maerials. maerials. Publishers disribue samples o heir producs and provide reviewers wih compleed sandar sandards ds maps demonsraing heir producs’ alignmen o Caliornia’s sandards. IMRs and CREs use hese sandards maps o evaluae wheher an insrucional maerial mees each sandard. During his independen review period, he submited maeri maerials als are accessible or vviewing iewing a Learning Resource Display Ceners hroughou he sae and he suden maerials are available or public viewing v iewing online. Te Caliornia Deparmen o Educaion websie displays displays he links o where hose suden maerials may be viewed or each program subm submission. ission. Te Tese se maerial maerialss remain ppublicly ublicly available unil he sae board o educaion makes is adopion decisions.86 Following he independen review period, IMRs and CREs mee or deliberaions and assemble a repor o heir findings. Nex, he Insrucional Qualiy Commission, or IQC, conducs public hearings and makes final recommendaions. Te sae board o educaion ulimaely adops maerials based on IQC recommendaions.87 According o Cliff R Rudnick udnick, , insr insrucional ucional resources uni uni admini adminisraor sraor w wih ih he Caliornia Deparmen o Educaion, he percenage o submited maerials ha are ulimaely adoped varies widely. During he previous adopion cycle, c ycle, he 88 sae adoped 31 o 35 submited mah programs. Caliornia Educaion Code specifies ha he sae mus “a “adop dop a leas five basic insrucional maerials” in each subjec area.89 However, he sae board o educaion only received hree submissions during he 2002 adopion cycle or English Language Ars and adoped wo o hose submited programs.90
34
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Changes to adoption process
In erms o uure changes o he adopion process, Rudnick menioned ha publishers currenly canno aler maerials once hey are submited.91 However, he sae board o educaion proposed regulaions ha would allow publishers o updae adoped maerials hrough a process and schedule oulined in he Caliornia Code o Regulaions.92 A public hearing and review o proposed regulaions was held in May 2015, and he sae board o educaion is expecing final approval rom he Office o Adminisraive Law his all.93 Proposed regulaion moved orward ollowing he public hearing wih only a minor change speciying ha he updaing process would be opened “a “a leas” once every wo yearsas opposed o sricly being opened only once every wo years.94
Florida: Instructional materials adoption process in a recommend state Overview
exbooks in Florida are adoped a he sae level and disrics mus spend a leas 50 percen o heir insrucional maerials allocaion on sae-approved curricula maerials. However, However, disrics have he opion o conducing heir heir own adopions and hose disrics are exemp rom he 50 percen rule.95 Ad optition Adop on pro ces s
Florida has a five-year adopion cycle. Te process begins each all when he Florida Deparmen o Educaion sends publishers a lis wih w ih subjec areas or which he sae is soliciing adopions. adopions. In midwiner midwiner,, publishers inorm he sae abou maerials hey plan o submi, and hey ener heir final offerings beore June 15. Publishers are required required o provide Florida wih he lowes price o ha 96
ile rom across he counry counr y. Each submited insrucional maerial is hen evaluaed by wo sae-level conen exper reviewers rev iewers who are appoined by he commissioner o educaion and ypically have a leas a graduae degree and/or cerificaion in he designaed subjec area. A hird conen exper will w ill examine any piece o maerial where here is a discrepancy beween be ween he wo reviewers. All publishers can record virual vir ual presenaions p resenaions o heir submited maer maerials ials in order o in inorm orm sae sae-level -level reviewers’ recommenda recommendaions. ions.97
35
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Sae-level reviewers hen complee heir reviews hrough an elecronic evaluaion sysem and are responsible or assessing he maerials’ alignmen wih Florida’s conen sandards. Reviewers use he course-specific secion o a wo-par rubric o assess alignmen o and coverage o he sae sandards. Afer his assessmen, disric-level reviewers evaluae he recommended maerials. Tese reviewers are experienced eachers or supervisors wih w ih conen-are conen-areaa experise who are appoined by school disric superinendens. Teir disric-level disr ic-level review consiss o an elecronic evaluaion; i is i s less conen-specific and insead ocused on he insrucional usabiliy o maerials. For a wo-week period during his review, he public is invied o submi online evaluaions o he maerials.98 Te commissioner o educaion ulimaely decides which maerials o adop based on hese recommendaions, recommendaions, and he Florida Deparmen o Educaion, or FLDOE, assembles a lis o adoped maerials ha is posed on is websie and disribued o publishers. Te sae does no aim o adop a predeermined number o maerials in each subjec area. According o Karina Figget, FLDOE direcor o insrucional suppor, “Teoreically, everyhing could ail or everyhing ever yhing could pass. …We’r …We’ree looking or insrucional maerials ha are correcly aligned. Someimes ha may be 12 books and someimes ha may be 2. 2.””99
Florida’s district-level selection of instructional materials
Disrics have an insrucional maerials allocaion provided by he sae and a leas hal o hese unds mus be spen on maerials adoped by he sae. FLDOE does no help disrics wih selecion decisions because i views is role as limied o “saying hese are aligned maerials … disrics should choose he maerials ha are bes suied or heir communiy, hey may o course choose somehing ha’s no on he adoped lis.” 100 Changes to the adoption process
In 2013, Florida included he opion or disrics o conduc heir own adopion processes. However, However, Fig Figget get says ha she does no know o any disric ha is implemening is own process.101 Te sar o he 2014-15 fiscal year marked a significan change o Florida’s Florida’s adopion process: Disrics are now required o spend a leas 50 percen o heir insrucional maerials allocaion on digial maerials. Tese maerials do no need o be rom he sae’s lis o adoped maerials. Ho However, wever, saring in FY 2015-16 fiscal year, a leas 50 percen o disrics’ annual exbook allocaion mus go oward digial maerials adoped by he sae.102
36
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Anoher reorm, according according o Figg Figget, et, is ha he legislaure ““made made i explici ha disrics are responsible or heir insrucional maerials choices. … Ta’s Ta’s somehing ha’s ha’s always been implici bu his year hey waned o make i explici wih addiional language in he saue.”103 Alhough many disrics already conduced public review and parenal objecion processes, Florida legislaors made hese processes mandaory mandaory or all disrics in 2014.104
South Carolina: Instructional materials adoption process in a recommend state Overview
exbooks in Souh Carolina are adoped a he sae-level, and disrics can choose exbooks rom a comprehensive lis o sae-approved insrucional maerials.105 Ad optition Adop on pro ces s
Te insrucional maerials adopion process sars wih a meeing o he sae’ sae’ss Curriculum and Insrucional Maerials Advisory Commitee o decide which subjec areas should be included in he upcoming exbook adopion cycle. Te Commitee hen recommends hese subjec areas o he sae board o educaion. exbooks are y ypically pically adoped every six years in each subjec area. Conracs las six years, bu here is he opion o exend a conrac or an addiional year. However, Howeve r, Souh Carolina ends o adop exbooks more requenly in he career and echnical educaion areas: Ideally, Ideally, hese exbooks are updaed every hree years, bu wheher or no hese updaes happen depends on available available unds.106 Afer he Sae Board Board o Educaion approves approves subjec areas ha ha will ge new ex books, he Commitee solicis solicis candidaes or ea each ch insrucional maerials review panel rom he sae board o educaion, disric superinendens, and he Souh Carolina Deparmen o Educaion, or SCDE. Te sae superinenden hen issues a call or bids, which w hich conains insrucions and inormaion or publishers and vendors paricipaing in he he adopion cycle. Afer Aferwards, wards, recommendaions or Insrucional Maerials Review Panel members are made o he sae board o educaion. A ew days laer, he SCDE opens publishers’ publi shers’ bids. Publishers are hen scheduled o presen in ron o individual review panels and mus send all maerials o he SCDE and all al l review panel members. Following presenaio presenaions, ns, bid abulaions are disribued o panel members and available o publishers. Souh Carolina requires requires ha publishers provide he sae wih he lowes price o ha ile rom across he counry, per specificaions o he Mos Fa Favored vored Naion Clause o he Souh Carolina Code o Laws.107
37
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Insrucional maerials review panels hen mee o make final recommendaions on publishers’ submited maerials. Panel members cas voes on each insrucional maerial based on alignmen o he sae sandards; insrucional maerials approved by wo-hirds o panel members are included in he recommendaions repor ha he panel aciliaors submi o he adopion coordinaor. coordinaor. Te lis o recommendaions recommenda ions is hen sen o publishers, and suden ediions o exbooks are shipped o public review sies whereby he public has 30 days o review recommended exbooks.108 Souh Carolina ses up is public review sies a 23 o 30 privae pr ivae and public colleges ha have approved eacher educaion programs, and he general public is invied o submi heir commens online. Te review panel’ panel’ss recommendaions as well as a public review summary repor are hen sen o he sae board o educaeducaion or approval and adopion. Te SCDE hen poss a lis o he newly approved insrucional maerials ha he sae board o educaion adoped; approximaely wo-hirds o insrucional maerials originally submited by publishers end up on he final lis o adoped maerials.109 Following he posing o adoped maerials, SCDE aciliaes wha is dubbed he Insrucional Maerials Caravan, Caravan, during which publishers presen heir maerials o school and disric saff across he sae in order o provide hem wih relevan inormaion on he newly adoped maerials. Te publishers und he caravan and he SCDE manages he enire process as ar as providing disrics wih necessary inormaion, managing regisraion, regisraion, and seting up all he sies. Each January January,, here are anywhere rom 10 o 13 sies where publishers provide exbook samples and presen heir maerials. Schools and disrics hen selec and purchase insrucional maerials or he upcoming school year.110 Changes to the adoption process
Souh Carolina recenly esablished a proviso or digial insrucional maerials whereby an exra po o money is se aside or disrics o use on insrucional maerials, devices, and Inerne bandwidh. Tere are $12 million available or he 2014-15 school yearas compared o $4 million las yearand unds are allocaed in a manner similar o a per-pupil allocaion. Disrics have up unil January 15 o order maerials and hen hey receive he remaining amoun o money or ull allocaion o use oward devices and bandwidh. Las year, he bulk o money wen sraigh o he disrics or devices. Tese unds are supplemening supplemening he $29 million ha is available solely or echnology purposes.111
38
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Souh Carolina’ Carolina’s insrucional maerials adopion coordinaor, Kriss Sewar, said ha he sae is always searching or ways o improve he adopion process. “We’ll be looking more and more o o sreamline he process, reduce reduce he imeline, and make sure disrics have he flexibiliy ha hey need and he maerials hey need or heir sudens,” Sewar explained.112
Texas: IInstr nstructi uctional onal mater materials ials adop adoption tion proce process ss in i n a sugge suggest st state s tate Overview
exbooks in exas are adoped a he sae level, bu disrics are no required o purchase insrucional maerials rom he sae’ sae’ss adopion lis. 113 Adop optition on pro ces s Ad
exas adops exbooks in he oundaion curriculum areasEnglish language ars and reading, mah, science, and social sudiesevery eigh years or more depending on unding availabiliy and wheher here here have been recen revisions o he exas exas Essenial Knowledge and Skil Skills, ls, or EKS.114 exas had no adoped new social sudies insrucional maerials since 2003, bu he sae finally reviewed rev iewed social sudies exbooks in summer 2014 and adoped recommended insrucional maerials in November 2014.115 According o Kelly Callaway Callaway,, division direcor o insrucional maerials and educaional echnology, he sae hopes o develop a new process hrough which new EKS would only be implemened when unding unding is available or insrucional maerials ha mee hose new sandards. Te adopion process officially begins when he sae board o educaion issues a proclamaion requesing requesing bids in paricular subjec areas and speciying speci ying conen requiremens. Publishers file a saemen o inen o bid b id in order o indicae ha hey are planning o submi maerials during he adopion cycle. Publishers hen provide samples o submited maerials o he exas Educaion Agency, or EA, EA , and he 20 regional educaion service serv ice ceners.116 Sae Review Panelscomposed Panelscomposed o hree o five people appoined by he EA commissioner o educaion based on nominaionse nominaionsevaluae valuae he maerials ha publishers submited. Te number o review panels per subjec area depends on he number o submissions. Calla Callaway way said he sae decides how many review panels o assemble based on he number needed o complee he review rev iew in a week o ace-o-ace ace-o-ace meeings. Revi Reviewers ewers ass assess ess maerial maerialss based oonn he exen o which maerials cover he EKS and English language proficiency sandards
39
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
and he number o acual errors. Reviewers Rev iewers use an evaluaion insrumen o assess alignmen o EKS. For each expecaion lised in he sandards, reviewers record one example o coverage in he suden ex narraive and anoher example idenified in a uni es, review review,, or aciv aciviy iy..117 Sae review panels hen submi heir findings o he commissioner, who will ulimaely recommend adoping hose maerials ha cover a leas 50 percen o he EKS or a specific subjec and grade level. Maerials in he our oundaion subjec areas mus also cover 100 percen o he English language proficiency sandards in order o be considered or adopion. Te commissioner also presens he sae board o educaion wih a repor deailing all acual errors in submited maerials, as idenified by reviewers, publishers, or he general public. Publishers are hen asked wih fixing fix ing hese errors.118 exas’ exas’ss public commen period al allows lows all exas residens o have he opporuni opporuniyy o review maerials and submi commens. In addiion, exas exas residens may atend a public hearing o provide p rovide oral esimony on submited maerials and represenaives o publishers p ublishers respond o he public’ public’ss esimony esimony..119 Ulimaely, he sae board o educaion makes adopion decisions based on Ulimaely, recommendaions and sends conracs o publishers. Publishers are required o provide exas exas wih a price or each ile ha is equivalen o or less han he he lowes 120 price paid by any oher sae, school, or school disric. Changes to adoption process
In 2011, he exas sae legislaure passed a measure ha changed he insrucional maerials adopion requiremens rom meeing 100 percen o he EKS, o meeing a leas 50 percen o he EKS. As a resul, Callaway noed here has been a “drasic change in he number o maerials ha have been submited.” When asked abou he impeus behind his change, Callaway said she believes i occurred “o open up opporuniies or more maerials or disrics o choose rom.”121 Te same 2011 legislaive session also changed he procedure o how disrics purchase insrucional maerials. Previously, Previously, he sae was responsible or buying he maerials and hus owned all insrucional maerials.122 As a resul o exas Senae Bill 6, disrics now receive an “insrucional maerials allomen” based on suden enrollmen, and disrics use hose unds unds o purchase heir own insrucional maerials.123 Te sae provides disrics wih he EKS coverage inormaion, bu disrics are able o purchase boh adoped and non-adoped maerials.124
40
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
When i comes o uure changes, Callaway Callaway noed ha he sae board board o educaion is currenly assessing he challenges disrics encouner wih managing heir insrucional maerials allomen; he he resuls o his invesiga invesigaion ion may lead o adopion cycle changes.
District case studies Alaska: Instructional materials adoption process in an open adoption state Overview
exbooks in Alaska are adoped a he disric level whereby disrics selec insrucional maerials wihou help rom he sae.125 Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Adoption Adop tion pro process cess
Te Kenai Peninsula Borough School Disric adops insrucional maerials in each subjec area every seven years. Te disric sars he process by assembling a commitee o 12 o 22 people, including eachers, an adminisraor adminisraor,, a school board member, he curriculum coordinaor, coordinaor, a suden, and a communiy represenaive. Te commitee reviews he curren curriculum while incorporaing any new sandards ino he core curriculum documen ha he disric implemened over he pas seven years. Nex, he curriculum is approved by he school board and he commitee begins brainsorming crieria or adoping insrucional maerials.126 Te disric hen poss he crieria on is websie and invies publishers o submi insrucional maerials. Afer receiving all submissions, he commitee conve convenes nes o review samples and evaluae insrucional maerials using a rubric provided by eiher he sae or a naional educaional organizaion and modified o mee he disric’s needs. Te commitee discusses he maerials unil hey reach consensus hen hey presen heir heir recommendaions o he school board.127 However, he disric does no always find maerials ha mee is adopion crieria. Melissa Linon, curriculum and assessmen coordinaor or he Kenai Peninsula Borough School Disric, explained ha he disric solicied adopion recommendaions or science exbooks aligned o he Nex Generaion Science Sandards. Publishers claimed ha heir exbooks were aligned o he new sandards, bu
41
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Linon said “i’s like rying o fi a square peg ino a round hole and saying hey’re aligned.” Given ha none o he submited maerials me he disric’s alignmen crieria, he Kenai Peninsula disric oped no o purchase new science exbooks. 128 Changes to adoption process
Te Kenai Peninsula Borough disric recenly reorganized is adopion imeline in par because o he high coss o shipping insrucional maerials o Alaska. According o Linon, Linon, “he igh orderin orderingg schedule drives some o he [maerials [maerials adopion]] work.” Te disric al adopion also so incorporaed addiional ime or eedback rom eachers across he disric. Linon did no anicipae any changes o he adopion process in he oreseeable uure, as she pu i, here “have been enough major changes or he las year and a hal.”129
Arizona: Instructional materials adoption process in an open adoption state Overview
exbooks in Arizona are adoped a he disric level whereby disrics selec insrucional maerials wihou help rom he sae.130 Deer Valley Unified Schools Adoption Adop tion pro process cess
Te Deer Valley Unified School Disric is bound by saue when i comes o adoping insrucional maerials. Te disric aims o adop maerials in each subjec area every seven years, bu budge consrains ofen preven his goal rom becoming a realiy realiy.. Gayle Galligan, associae superinenden o he Deer Valley Valley Unified School Disric, noed ha ha some insrucional maerials were las 131
reviewed 12 years ago. Te disric begins he adopion process by posing inormaion peraining o he upcoming insrucional maerials selecion on is websie. Nex, principals recommend eachers o serve on he he adopion commitee. Te 20- o 30-person commitee includes eachers, adminisraors, parens, a communiy member, represenaives or special educaion and English Language Learners, or ELLs, and a financial represenaive represenaive..132 Leters are hen sen o publishers speciying speciy ing adopion crieria. Publishers submi iniial resources or he adopion commitee’s review, and he commitee selecs which maerials sufficienly mee is crieria. Te commite commiteee conacs he publishers o he seleced maerials and requess ha hey presen heir producs beore he adopion commitee commitee..133
42
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Te commitee hen evaluaes hese insrucional maerials using a rubric and selecs a maximum max imum o hree resources o undergo a 60-day public review. Te commitee akes all eedback rom he public review ino accoun and uses i o inorm heir recommendaion o he school board. Prices acor highly ino he final adopion decision, and he adopion commitee negoiaes wih he op wo publishers o deermine he botom-line coss beore making a recommendaion o he school board. Afer deermining program coss, he adopion commiee presens he school board wih a preview o he recommended resources, on which he board hen convenes o o voe. Afer he bo board ard makes is selecions, he disric moves orward wih he ordering process and aims o disribue newly adoped maerials o eachers beore summer recess.134 Changes to adoption process
While he adopion process isel has remained unchang unchanged ed in recen years, Galligan noed ha he disric is adoping more digial insrucional insruc ional maerials. Alhough digial insrucional maerials cos cos abou he same as radiional ex books, Galligan explained ha hey can ransorm ransorm suden learning by providing sudens wih “opporuniies o hink and learn in ways hey wouldn wouldn’’ be able o 135 wihou echnology. echnology.”
Illinois: Instructional materials adoption process in an open adoption state Overview
exbooks in Illinois are adoped a he local level, whereby schools and disrics selec insrucional maerials wihou help rom he sae.136 Rockford Public Schools
Adoption Adop tion pro process cess
Rockord Public Schools adops insrucional maerials in each curriculum area every six years. Te disric sars he adopion process by convening a commiee o eachers who represen he disric’s schoo schools. ls. Te disric hen hoss vendor airs, during which hese eachers evaluae he qualiy o he displayed producs using a disric-approved rubric. Te adopion commitee hen voes on which programs hey wan o pilo; usually, he commitee pilos wo programs.137 Each program pilo can las rom eigh weeks o our monhs, afer which ime he eachers who used he maerials provide daa and inpu on heir experience ex perience o he commitee. Nex, Nex, he commitee voes on which program o adop and creaes a proposal oulining heir recommendaion. Ulimaely, Ulimaely, he recommendaion needs approval rom he school board.138
43
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
In erms o negoiaing prices, he disric uses is large size as a lever in he negoiaion process. Te disric always ries o incorporae eacher raining and suppor ino he package so ha eachers have guidance when implemening a new ex in class. 139 Changes to adoption process
According o Heidi Heidi Detman, direc direcor or o secondary curriculum or Rockord Public Schools, he disric is atemping o replicae a daa-driven model where eachers have a larger role in he selecion o insrucional maerials. As Detman explained, he social sudies curriculum dean se his preceden las year when he “wen above and beyond o ge eacher eedback and insiued more eacher sur veys so ha he could ge a beter eel eel or every conen area wihin social sudies and how eachers el abou heir ex. ex.””140 In erms o changes associaed wih implemening he Common Core, Detman said he new sandards “made us really sep back and hink abou how we use exs as resources because Common Core requires us o do much more skill-building, skill-building , so i may no be ha we find everyhing ever yhing we need in one exbook. exbook.””141 Oher uure changes o he disric’s adopion process are dependen upon echnology. Detman Detman noed ha i he disric ends up going one-o-onemeaning ha every suden will w ill have an elecronic devicehen here will be many aleraions o he insrucional insr ucional maerials adopion process.142 Chicago Public Schools
Te Chicago Public Schools disric does no currenly have a ormal, disricwide insrucional maerials adopion process. Schools have auonomy when i comes o purchasing decisions, and he disric provides some schools wih supplemenal maerials. However, However, he disric is working on creaing a ormal process wih he implemenaion o he Common Core.143 Te disric atemped o adop lieracy insrucional maerials aligned o he Common Core in 2013, bu ailed o find producs ha me is adopion crieria. During he 2013 process, he disric firs gahered inormaion o deermine is needs and also brainsormed creaive ways o repurpose curren maerials. Nex, conen area expers, eachers, and adminisraors developed a reques or proposal ha refleced he disric’s crieria or insrucional maerials. Publishers submited maerials, and 70 eachers conduced an elaborae evaluaion process over a one-week period. However, he reviewers did no find any maerials ha me he disric’s needs, so hey ulimaely oped no o adop any new insrucional maerials. According o Carisa Hubbard, insrucional maerials coordinaor or Chicago Public Schools, “vendors were submiting maerials ha were in progress and no compleely writen.” 144
44
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Following he 2013 lieracy maerial adopion cycle, c ycle, Chicago Public Schools decided o examine oher disrics’ insrucional maerials selecion processes in order o gaher ideas or he nex nex soliciaion. Moving orward, he disric’ di sric’ss adopion process is sill a work in progress, p rogress, bu he disric hopes o adop mah and English language ars maerials once he exbook marke is beter posiioned o mee he disric’ disr ic’ss needs.145
Iowa: Instructional materials adoption process in an open adoption state Overview
exbooks in Iowa are adoped a he disric level, whereby disrics selec insrucional maerials wihou help rom he sae.146 Des Moines Public Schools Adoption Adop tion pro process cess
Des Moines Public Schools adops insrucional maerials in each subjec area every five o six years. Te adopion process commences wih he assembly o an adopion eam consising o 15 o 20 people, including a wide represenaion o eachers, suppor personnel rom special programs, and adminisraors. Te adopion eam hen deermines he crieria or selecing insrucional maerials, during which ime publishers may submi maerials hey believe align o he specified crieria.147 Nex, he adopion eam reviews submited maerials using a scoring rubric ha reflecs he crieria or selecion and measures imporan aspecs such as alignmen o he sandards and suppor or English Language Learners. Te eam hen selecs exbooks ha ulfill all al l desired componens, and eachers on he eam pilo hese maerials in heir classrooms or a one-monh period. eachers eachers use he rubric o ormally assess each insrucional maerial and presen he leadership eam wih heir op wo choices. During he pas adopion cycle, wo ou o six seleced maerials quickly rose o he op.148 Te adopion eam hen invies he publishers o he op wo wo programs o presen heir insrucional maerials o he eam. Te disric uses hese maerials o conduc a second pilo wih he final wo programs, and he adopion eam voes on heir final choice. Te Des Moines school board o educaion hen approves all purchases o more han $100,000, and he disric curriculum coordinaor works wih he publisher and he disric’s purchasing purchasing deparmen o order he requisie insrucional maerials.149
45
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Changes to adoption process
According o Carlyn Carlyn Cox, direcor o elemenary eaching eaching and learning or Des Moines Public Schools, he shif o digial curricula maerials will aler he review process in he uure. Cox noed ha digial maerials are much more cos-effecive and i will w ill be imperaive ha echnology deparmen represenaives are par o he adopion eam.150 Iowa City Community Schools Adoption Adop tion pro process cess
Iowa Ciy Communiy School Disric adops insrucional maerials in each subjec area every eigh years. Te disric ypically y pically adops insrucional maerials ollowing an exensive review o a specific curricular cur ricular area. Te disric sends hree o our people o a naional conerence ha eaures publishers’ boohs. Tese disric represenaives learn abou all producs currenly on he marke in he various subjec areas during heir ineracions ineracions wih he publishers presen a he naional conerence. Represenaives ulimaely selec our or five programs or he disric o review in deph. A sel-sudy commiteeled by he curricular area coordinaor coordina or and consising o 15 o 25 eachers rom various grade levels and/or subjec areasreviews seleced insrucional maerials using a rubric r ubric o evaluae each exbook. Te disric displays hese maerials in is cenral office; eachers and parens can review he maerials and submi eedback by compleing he designaed rubric. Tese insrucional maerials are ofen also al so sen o he disric’s wo high schools and hree middle schools or eachers o review.151 Te designaed review rubric assesses he ollowing crieria: alignmen o he sae sandards; reflecion o curriculum; inclusion o embedded and summaive assessmens; eaching philosophy; level o muliculural and gender-air insrucion; and addiional pracical issues, such as, useable ancillary ancil lary maerials, overall user-riendliness, represenaive o ederal regulaions, suppor or ELL sudens, and qualiy o he binding and paper.152 Following an in-deph review o maerials, he commitee ypically chooses wo or hree programs o pilo. Te disric hen pilos hese programs simulaneously.. Te eachers who work wih he maerials during he pilo complee rubrics ously assessing hese programs. Once he pilos are finished, he sel-sudy convenes o reach consensus on which program he disric should adop.153
46
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Changes to adoption process
Iowa Ciy Communiy School Disric has no made any recen changes o he acual adopion process. However, Pam Ehly, Direcor o Insrucion or Iowa Ciy Communiy School Disric, menioned ha here is a sronger emphasis on ensuring insrucional maerials align o assessmens, which led he disric o slighly modiy is rubric.154
Nebraska: Instructional materials adoption process in an open adoption state Overview
exbooks in Nebraska are adoped a he disric level, whereby disrics selec insrucional maerials wihou help rom he sae.155 Lincoln Public Schools Adoption Adop tion pro process cess for ele element mentary ary read ing
Te componens o Lincoln Public Schools’ insrucional maerials adopion process are dependen upon he scale o implemenaion. Te process or elemenary reading, he larges adopion, sars wih w ih he assembly o a eam o principals, eachers, curriculum specialiss, and disric office deparmen represenaives. Te enire eam is beween 25 and 50 people in size, bu some eam members play a less acive, advisory advisor y role. Te eam’s firs ask is o define bes pracices relaed o reading insrucion and curriculum, as well as suden learning goals. eam eam mem bers also amiliarize hemselves wih Nebraska sae sae sandards and assessmens. assessmens.156 Te eam urns his research ino a proposal deailing wha kinds o maerials he disric’s adopion cycle seeks, and i sends his proposal ou o publishers. Jadi Miller, Direcor o Proessional Developmen or Lincoln Public Schools, said she has “ye o mee a publisher who w ho doesn doesn’’ hink heir program can mee every everyhing hing you fill ou or hem or are requesingbu requesingbu ha is rarely rue.” For he mos re recen cen elemenary reading adopion process, eigh publishers presened insrucional programs and a disric seering commitee comprised o Lincoln Public Schools disric office saffers narrowed he opions op ions down o hree programs.157 As par o he adopion process, he ull seering commitee commitee reviews he remaining hree insrucional programs and assesses heir alignmen o he sandards in order o deermine wheher he maerials mee bes pracices in reading insrucion. ypically, ypically, he ull commitee selecs wo ou o he hree curricula o use in
47
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
a ull implemenaion sudy he ollowing year. Howeve However, r, here was a clear firs choice during he elemenary reading adopion cycle, so he disric oped no o pilo boh series. Insea Insead, d, he disr disric ic piloed he firs choice reading series agains a conrol group ha used he exising curriculum. 158 Te new curriculum proved o be very ver y effecive. However However,, Miller noed ha i he sudy “was inconclusive or i here was anyhing less han overwhelming over whelming evidence ha his program … was he righ choice, hen here would have been addiional sudies and pilos.”159 Te seering commitee shared is iniial resuls wih he Suden Learning Commitee.. Nex, he resuls and recommendaio Commitee recommendaionn were presened o he ull ull school board, and he board members approved he final selecion. Te disric’s purchasing deparmen hen negoiaed price wih he publisher. Miller noed he disric has “prety good bargaining power” given is large size.160 Te disric ordered he new maerials in ime o give eachers copies beore he summer recess, and i scheduled exensive proessional developmen sessions hroughou he summer, as well as during he firs-year o implemenaion.161 Role of the state
Alhough he Nebraska Deparmen Deparmen o Educaion does no direcly help wih he exbook adopion process, Lincoln Public Schools is consanly communicaing wih sae educaion officials abou curren and uure changes changes o sae sandar sandards. ds. Te open line o communicaion beween he sae and disric allows he disric o effecively make decisions a he local level. According o Miller, he ongoing communicaion wih he sae means ha, he disric undersands “wha “w ha he science sandards adopion process is going o look like, we know more abou he imeline, and we have some ideas abou wha he commitee is looking a.”162 Kearney Public Schools Adoption Adop tion pro process cess
In he Kearney Public Schools, he insrucional maerials adopion process is par o he curriculum curr iculum developmen process. Te firs year o he process enails developing or revising a writen curriculum documen ha aligns o Nebraska Nebraska’’s sae sandards; each curriculum documen is up updaed daed every eeigh igh years. eachers eachers hen implemen he revised curriculum he ollowing year, and he disric begins is search or aligned insrucional maerials.163
48
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Te commitee conacs vendors requesing samples o insrucional maerials or specified subjec areas. Te commitee creaes an evaluaion rubric or submited maerials and invies eachers o review he maerials using he designaed rubric. 164 Once he commitee gahers all relevan inormaion on he submited maerials, he op hree vendors receive inviaions o presen heir curricula. Te commitee selecs curricula based on consensus. Te seleced vendor hen sends a proposal wih price inormaion. Dick Meyer, Meyer, he disric’s curriculum and assessmen assessmen advisor, noed ha “prices don’ don’ vary a whole lo” beween differen publishers and series, which means ha price is no a deermining acor in he selecion o insrucional maerials.165 Changes to adoption process
In erms o uure changes o he insrucional maerials adopion process, Meyer believed he process will remain virually he same, bu he disric will wi ll mos likely purchase more digial conen going orward. Kearney Public Schools is currenly close o ully implemening a one-o-one echnology program a he elemenary and middle school levels. However However,, eachers are relucan o move away rom paper maerials alogeher; hereore, Meyer anicipaed anicipaed ha he disric will coninue o buy classroom exbook ses or he oreseeable uure.
49
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Endnotes 1 The authors collected pric price e data for all curricula included in the only high-quality curriculum effectiveness study, which is a randomized controlled trial carried out by researchers at Mathematica Policy Research and SRI International for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, or IES. The price data for the four curricula included in the IES study came from prices listed on publishers’ websites websites.. 2 The authors compiled price da data ta on adopted elementary math instructional materials from 19 states in order to determine if there is significant variation in how much different states pay for the same instructional materials and whether recommend states and suggest states pay similar prices for the same textbooks. 3 The authors used information from case study interviews to conclude that adoption decisions are based on impressionistic assessments of quality and weak proxies for alignment to state standards. The authors also analyzed the following rubrics used by states to measure alignment: Texas Education Agency, “Proclamation 2015 State Review Panel Evaluation Instrument: Teacher Material, Material,” on file with with author; California Department of Education, “2014 Mathematics Instructional Materials Adoption (K-8),” available at http://www.cde. ca.gov/ci/ma/im/ (last ca.gov/ci/ma/im/ (last accessed March 2015). 4 provided The authors states agencies’ ba based sed on information on classified state education websites and through the following sources: State Instructional Materials Review Association, “State Resources,” available at http://simra.us/wp/state-links/ (last accessed September 2015); Personal communication with State Education Agencies over an extended period of time, mostly in 2014, but with follow-up questions in winter 2015. 5 Louisiana Department of Education, ““Curricular Curricular Resources Annotated Reviews,” available at http://www. at http://www. louisianabelieves.com/academics/instructional-materials-review/curricular-resources-annotated-reviews (last accessed August 2015). 6 Personal communication with Jadi Miller Miller,, director of curriculum, Lincoln Public Schools, October 28, 2014. 7 Morgan S. Polikoff, “How W Well ell Aligned Are Textbooks to the Common Core Standards in Mathematics?” American Educational Research Research Journal (2015), (2015), available at http://aer.sagepub.com/content/ early/2015/05/05/0002831215584435.abstract;; Cory early/2015/05/05/0002831215584435.abstract Turner,, “The Commo Turner Common n Core Curriculum Void,” National National Public Radio, June 3, 2014, available at http://www.npr. org/sections/ed/2014/06/03/318228023/the-commoncore-curriculum-void. core-curriculum-void. 8 Ulrich Boser, “Return on Educational Investment: 2014: A District-by-District Evaluation of U.S. Educational Productivity” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2014), available at at https://www.americanprogr https://www.americanprogress.org/ ess.org/ issues/education/report/2014/07/09/93104/return-oneducational-investment-2/. 9 Matthew M. Chingos and Grover J. Russ Whitehurst, “Choosing Blindly: Instructional Materials, Teacher Effectiveness, and the Common Core” (Washington: Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings, 2012), available at http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/ reports/2012/4/10%20curr reports/20 12/4/10%20curriculum%20c iculum%20chingos%20whi hingos%20whitetehurst/0410_curriculum_chingos_whitehurst.pdf.
10 The Thomas B. Fordham Fordham Institute, “The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption” (2004), available at http://edexcellence.net/publications/madmadworld.html. 11 Chingos and Whitehurst, “Choosing Blindly.” 12 Ibid. 13 Institute of Education Sciences, “Identifying and Implementing Educational Practices Supported By Rigorous Evidence: A User Friendly Guide,” available at http:// ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/evidence_based/randomized. asp#14 (last accessed August 2015). 14 Roberto Agodini and others, ““Achievement Achievement Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math Curricula: Findings for First and Second Graders” (U (U.S. .S. Department of Education, 2010), available at http://www.mathema http://www.mathemattica-mpr.com/~/media/publications/PDFs/Education/ mathcurricula_fstsndgrade.pdf. 15 Ibid. 16 Rachana Bhatt and Cory Koedel,“Large-Scale Evaluations of Curricular Effectiveness: The Case of Elementary Mathematics in Indiana,” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 34 (4) (2012): 391-412, available at http:// at http:// epa.sagepub.com/content/34/4/391.abstract.. epa.sagepub.com/content/34/4/391.abstract 17 Agodini and others, ““Achievement Achievement Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math Curricula.” 18 Julie Koehler Zeringue Zeringue and others, “Influences on Mathematics Textbook Selection: What Really Matters?” (Waltham, MA: Education Development Center, Center, 2010), available at http://www2.edc.org/mcc/pubs/Final%20 Draft%20Research%20Presession%202010.pdf . 19 The authors classified states base based d on information provided on state education agencies’ websites and through the following sources: State Instructional Materials Review Association, “State Resources,” available at http://simra.us/wp/state-links/ (last accessed September 2015); Personal communication with State Education Agencies. 20 Zeringue and others,“Influences on Mathematics Textbook Selection: What Really Matters?” 21 The term “rec “recommend ommend state” was was initially used in Fordham’s report on textbook adoption, for more information, see: The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, “The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption.” The Fordham report defines a recommend state as a state where “districts choose textbooks from a ‘recommended list’ prepared by the state.” For our report, we use the term “recommend state” to refer to states where “districts choose textbooks from a ‘recommended list’ prepared by the state or request permission to select a textbook not on the state’s adoption list.” 22 South Carolina State Departme Department nt of Education, “Information and Updates for the South Carolina Instructional M aterials Office,” aavailable vailable at http://textbooks.ed.sc.gov/ (last accessed March 2015). 23 Florida Department of Education, “Florida Statutes K-20 Education Code: Excerpts Pertaining to Instructional Materials” (2014), available at http://www.fldoe.org/core/ fileparse.php/5423/urlt/14IMS.pdf; Note that the FLDOE does not know of any district currently undertaking its own adoption process, see personal communication with Katrina Figgett, director of instructional support, Florida Department of Education, March 24, 2015.
50
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
24 Personal communication communication with Martin Dukes, education administrator for instructional services, Alabama Department of Education, August 29, 2014. 25 Zack Kopplin, “Was Moses a Founding FFather?” ather?” The Atlantic, November 25, 2014, available at http://www. theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/11/was-moses-a-founding-father/383153/; Personal ses-a-founding-father/383153/; Personal communication with Kelly Callaway Callaway,, director of K-12 foundation education, Curriculum Division of the Texas Education Agency, July 23, 2014. 26 Personal communication communication with Cliff Rudnick, administrator, Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division of the California Department of Education, July 8, 2014. 27 Personal communication communication with Thoma Thomass Coy, public school program advisor, Curriculum and Instruction Office of the Arkansas Department of Education, January 8, 2015. 28 Texas Education Agency Agency,, “Proc “Proclamation lamation 2015 State Review Panel Evaluation Instrument: Teacher Material,” on file with author; California Department of Education, “2014 Mathematics Instructional Materials Adoption (K8),” available at at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/im/ (last ca.gov/ci/ma/im/ (last accessed March 2015). 29 California Department of Education, “2014 Mathematics Instructional Materials Adoption (K-8).” 30 Texas Education Agency Agency,, “Proc “Proclamation lamation 2015 State Review Panel Evaluation Instrument: Teacher Material.” 31 Thomas B. Fordham Institute, “The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption”; Adoption”; Beverlee Jobrac Jobrack, k, Tyranny of the Textbook: An Insider Exposes How Educational Materials Undermine Reforms (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc., 2012). 32 Kopplin, “Was Moses a Founding FFather?” ather?” 33 CBS News, “Rewriting history? Texas tackles textbook debate,” September 16, 2014, available at http://www. cbsnews.com/news/rewriting-history-texas-tacklestextbook-debate/.. textbook-debate/ 34 Polikoff, “How Well Aligned Are Te Textbooks xtbooks to the Common Core Standards in Mathematics?”; Turner, “The Common Core Curriculum Void.” 35 Tim Walker, Walker, “Don’t Know Much About History,” National Education Association, available at http://www.nea. org/home/39060.htm (last org/home/39060.htm (last accessed September 2015). 36 Zeringue and others,“Influences on Mathematics Textbook Selection: What Really Matters?” 37 Personal communication wit with h Carisa Hubbard, Instructional Materials Coordinator, September 8, 2014. 38 Personal communication wit with h Jadi Miller, October 28, 2014. 39 Ibid. 40 Inflation to 2014 dollars is based on the first year the price went into effect. For example, a product priced in a state’s instructional materials list at $26 from 2009 to present would be inflated from 2009 dollars to 2014 dollars. 41 The authors also collected data from Florida and Texas, but no products on the lists for these states also appear on the price lists of other states.
42 The authors calculated the average average price of pr products oducts as a percentage of a school district’s average spending per pupil based on the New America Foundation’s data available at http://febp.newamerica.net/background-analysis/school-finance that school districts spend $10,658 per student; Atlas, “PreK-12 “PreK-12 Financing Overview,” available at http://febp.newamerica.net/ background-analysis/school-finance (last background-analysis/school-finance (last accessed April 2015). 43 Georgia, for instance instance,, includes math instructional materials such as Scaredy Cats and Muddy, Muddy Mess. These instructional materials are are part of the Big Books Year Year 1 series, which encompasses themed picture books covering a variety of math concepts; ORIGO Education, “ORIGO Big Books,” available at http://www. origoeducation.com/origo-big-books-year-1/(last origoeducation.com/origo-big-books-year-1/ (last accessed August 2015). 44 The Most Favor Favored ed Nation clause specifies specifies that a publisher must provide a state with a price that “does not exceed the lowest price at which the publisher offers those same instructional materials for adoption or sale to any other state within, or territory of, the United States.” For more information, see California Department of Education, “Information on Relevant California Education Code Sections and California Code of Regulations, Title 5,” available at http://www.cde. ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/publtredcodeinfo.asp ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/publtredcodeinfo .asp (last accessed September 2015). 45 Agodini and others, “Achieve “Achievement ment Effects of Four Ea Early rly Elementary School Math Curricula,” 46 The authors translated all e effect ffect sizes from the standa standard rd deviation units reported in the original research to the grade levels using the average annual gain in effect sizes reported in H oward Bloom and others, “Empirical Benchmarks for Interpreting Effect Sizes in Research,” Child Development Perspectives 2 (3) (2008): 172-177, available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ j.1750-8606.2008.00061.x/abstract Specifically, Specifically, the authors divided the RCT results by 0.96, which is the average annual gain for grades 1 and 2. 47 Pearson, “Investigations in Number, Data, and Space 2012,” available at at http://www.pearsonschool.com/index. cfm?locator=PSZpOz&PMDBSOLUTIONID=6724&PMDBS ITEID=2781&PMDBCATEGORYID=806&PMDBSUBSOLUT IONID=&PMDBSUBJECTAREAID=&PMDBSUBCATEGORYI D=&PMDbProgramID=74264 (last accessed March 2015); Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, “Math Expressions Common Core,” available at at http://www.hmhco.com/shop/education-curriculum/math/elementary-mathematics/mathexpressions/shop-now/math-expressions?i=1;programI d=PG0089*;q1=1;segment=Components;x1=grade_dd (last accessed March 2015); Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, “Saxon Math,” available at http://www.hmhco.com/shop/ education-curriculum/math/saxon-math/buy-now?i=1 ;programId=PG0124*;q1=1;segment=Components;x1 =grade_dd (last =grade_dd (last accessed March 2015); Pearson, “Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics,” available at http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ u6e&PMDBSOLUTIONID=6724&PMDBSITEID=2781&PM DBCATEGORYID=806&PMDBSUBSOLUTIONID=&PMDBS UBJECTAREAID=&PMDBSUBCATEGORYID=25741&PMDb ProgramID=13524 (last ProgramID=13524 (last accessed March 2015). 48 The authors conducted their price-quality analysis using price data from publishers’ websites collected in September 2014 for the four curricula included in the randomized controlled trial carried out by researchers at Mathematica Policy Research and SRI International for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. 49 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, “Saxon Math.”
51
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
50 New America Foundation, “Federal, Stat State, e, and Local K-12 School Finance Overview,” available at http://atlas. at http://atlas. newamerica.org/school-finance (last newamerica.org/school-finance (last accessed September 2015). 51 Douglas N. Harris, “To “Toward ward Policy-Relevant Benchmarks for Interpreting Effect Sizes: Combining Effects With Costs,” Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis 31 (1) (2009): 3-29. The authors adjusted all of the costeffectiveness ratios—referred ratios—referred to as ROI in this report— included in Harris’s study by inflating costs to 2014 dollars. 52 The Student-Teacher Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio, or ST STAR, AR, project was a study conducted to determine the effectiveness of class-size reduction on student learning. Frederick Mosteller, “The Tennessee Tennessee Study of Class Size in the Early School Grades,” The Future of Children 5 (2) (1995): 113-127, available at http://www.princeton.edu/ futureofchildren/publications/docs/05_02_08.pdf . 53 The authors collected price da data ta for all curricula included in the only high-quality curriculum effectiveness study, which is a randomized controlled trial carried out by researchers at Mathematica Policy Research and SRI International for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. The price data for the four curricula included in the IES study came from prices listed on publishers’ websites websites.. 54 The authors compiled price da data ta on adopted elementary math instructional materials from 19 states in order to determine if there is significant variation in how much different states pay for the same instructional materials and whether so-called recommend states and suggest states pay similar prices for the same textbooks. 55 Harris, “T “Toward oward Policy-Relevant Benchma Benchmarks rks for Interpreting Effect Sizes.”The authors adjusted all of the cost-effectiveness ratios included in H arris’s study by inflating costs to 2014 dollars. 56 The authors collected price da data ta for curricula included in the quasi-experimental Indiana curriculum effectiveness study. The price data came from the prices reported in the actual study and inflated to 2014 dollars. We translate all effect sizes from the standard deviation units reported in the original research to grade levels using the average annual gain in effect sizes reported in Howard Bloom and others, “Empirical Benchmarks for Interpreting Effect Sizes in Research.”. Specifically, the authors divided the Indiana results by 0.52 for grade 3. 57 Personal communication with Kelly Callaw Callaway, ay, July 23, 2014. 58 California Department of Education, “2014 Mathematics Instructional Materials Adoption (K-8).” 59 Polikoff, “How Well Aligned Are Te Textbooks xtbooks to the Common Core Standards in Mathematics?” Turner Turner,, “The Common Core Curriculum Void.” 60 Personal communication communication with Jadi Miller Miller,, October 28, 2014.
63 Morgan S. Polikoff, Andrew C. Porter Porter,, and John Smithson, “How Well Aligned Are State Assessments of Student Achievement With State Content Standards?” American Educational Research Research Journal 20 (10) (2011): 1-31, available at at http://www.uscrossier.org/ceg/wphttp://www.uscrossier.org/ceg/wpcontent/uploads/publications/state_assessments_polikoff.pdf . 64 Ibid. 65 Catherine Gewertz, comment on “Louisiana Posts Curriculum Reviews to Help Teachers, Influence Marketplace,” Education Week Curriculum Matters Blog, comment posted March 13, 2014, available at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2014/03/ from_shreveport_times_baton_ro.html (last (last accessed March 2015). 66 Louisiana Department of Educati Education, on, “C “Curricular urricular Resources Annotated Reviews,” available at https://www. louisianabelieves.com/academics/ONLINE-INSTRUC TIONAL-MATERIALS-REVIEWS/curricular-resources TIONAL-MA TERIALS-REVIEWS/curricular-resourcesannotated-reviewshttps://www.louisianabelieves.com/ annotated-reviews https://www.louisianabelieves.com/ academics/instructional-materials-review/curricularresources-annotated-reviews (last resources-annotated-reviews (last accessed March 2015). 67 Personal communication w with ith Jadi Miller, October 28, 2014. 68 Achieve, “Educators Evaluating Evaluating Quality Instructional Products,” available at http://www.achieve.org/EQuIP http://www.achieve.org/EQuIP (last accessed August 2015). 69 Change the Equation, “How it Works for Iowa Programs,” available at http://chang etheequation.org/stemworks_ etheequation.org/stemworks_ application/home/index.php (last accessed September 2015). 70 Polikoff, “How Well Aligned Are TTextbooks extbooks to the Common Core Standards in Mathematics?”; Turner, “The Common Core Curriculum Void.” 71 Share My Lesson, “Home,” available at http://www. sharemylesson.com/home.aspx(last sharemylesson.com/home.aspx (last accessed August 2015). 72 K-12 Open Educational Resources Collaborativ Collaborative, e, “Request for Proposals (RFP),” aavailable vailable at http://k12oercollaborative.org/rfp/#phaseii laborative.or g/rfp/#phaseii (last accessed August 2015). 73 Engag EngageNY, eNY, “Common Core Curriculum,” available availabl e at https://www.engageny.org/common-core-curriculum (last accessed August 2015). 74 at Achieve the Core, “ELA/Lite “ELA/Literacy racy Lesson Bank,” available http://achievethecore.org/dashboard/300/sear ch/1/1/0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/page/788/ela-literacy-lesson-bank-list-pg (last accessed August 2015). 75 Personal communication w with ith Martin Dukes, August, 29, 2014. 76 Ibid. 77 Ibid. 78 Ibid.
61 Department of Education Organization Act , Public Law 96-88, 96 Cong. 1 sess. (1979). 62 U.S. Department Department of Educa Education, tion, Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Summary and Background Information (2015), available at http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget16/summary/16summary.pdf .
79 Ibid. 80 Ibid.
52
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
81 Personal communication communication with Cliff Rudnick, July 8, 2014; California Department of Education, “Instructional Materials Adoption Process,” av available ailable at at http:// http:// www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/imadoptionprocess2012.pdf (last (last accessed March 2015); California Department of Education, “Instructional Materials Evaluation and Adoption – CalEdFacts,” available at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/cefimadoptprocess.asp (last accessed March 2015).
108 Ibid. 108
82 Kathleen Manzo, “California “California Faces a Curriculum Crisis,” Education Week , September 9, 2009, available at http:// at http:// www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/09/04/03califtex ts_ep.h29.html.. ts_ep.h29.html
1 113 13 Personal communication with Kelly Callaway, July 23, 2014.
83 Personal communication wit with h Cliff Rudnick, July 8, 2014. 84 Ibid.
109 Ibid. 109 110 Ibid. 110 111 Ibid. 111 112 Ibid. 112
114 Ibid. 114 115 Ibid. 116 Texas Education Agency, “A Brief Overview of the Adoption Process,” available at http://tea.texas.gov/interiorpage.aspx?id=2147485614 (last age.aspx?id=2147485614 (last accessed August 2015).
85 Ibid. 86 Ibid. 87 Ibid.
117 Personal communication with Kelly Callaway, DecemDecember 18, 2014. 118 Personal communication with Kelly Callaway, July 23, 2014.
88 Ibid. 119 Ibid. 119 89 Onecle, “Article 1. Selection and Adoption – California Education Code Section 60200,” available at http:// law.onecle.com/california/education/60200.html (last (last accessed March 2015). 90 Ibid. 91 Ibid. 92 California Code of Regulations, proposed changes to Title 5, section 9526(a).
120 Ibid. 120 121 Ibid. 121 122 S.B. No. 6, 82 Texas 122 State Legislature 1 sess. (2011), State
available at http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/821/ http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/821/ billtext/html/SB00006F.HTM. 123 Ibid. 124 Ibid. 124
93 Personal communication wit with h David Almquist, education programs consultant and publisher liaison for California Department of Education, August 14, 2015. 94 Ibid. 95 Personal communications communications with Katrina FFiggett, iggett, July 11, 2014.
1 125 25 Gewertz, comment on “Textbook Authority Shifting Slowly From States to Districts.” 126 Personal communication with Melissa Linton, curriculum and assessment coordinator, Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, November 13, 2014. 127 Ibid. 127
96 Ibid. 128 Ibid. 128 97 Ibid. 129 Ibid. 129 98 Ibid. 1 130 30 Gewertz, comment on “Textbook Authority Shifting 99 Ibid. 100 Ibid. 100 101 Ibid. 101 1 102 02 Florida Department of Education, “Florida Statutes K-20 Education Code.” 103 Personal communication with Katrina Figgett, July 11 2015.
Slowly From States to Districts.” 131 Personal communication with Gayle Galligan, deputy superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment, Deer Valley Unified School District, November 13, 2014. 132 Ibid. 133 Ibid. 133 134 Ibid. 134
104 Ibid. 104 135 Ibid. 135 1 105 05 Personal communications with Kriss Stewart, South Carolina Department of Education instructional materials adoptions coordinator, coordinator, July 8, 2014 and October 23, 2014; South Carolina Department of Education, “2015 Instructional Materials Adoption Calendar,” available at http://mysctextbooks.com/ DOCS/2015AdoptionCalendar.pdf (last accessed March 2015).
1 136 36 Gewertz, comment on “Textbook Authority Shifting Slowly From States to Districts.” 137 Personal communication with Heidi Dettman, director of secondary curriculum and instruction, Rockford Public Schools, September 25, 2014. 138 Ibid. 138
106 Ibid. 106 139 Ibid. 139 107 Ibid. 107
53
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
140 Ibid. 140
152 Ibid. 152
141 Ibid. 141
153 Ibid. 153
142 Ibid. 142
154 Ibid. 154
1 143 43 Personal communication with Carisa Hubbard, September 8, 2014.
1 155 55 Gewertz, comment on “Textbook Authority Shifting Slowly From States to Districts.”
144 Ibid. 144
156 Personal communication with Jadi Miller, Miller, October 28, 2014.
145 Ibid. 145 157 Ibid. 157 1 146 46 Gewertz, comment on “Textbook Authority Shifting Slowly From States to Districts.”
158 Ibid. 158
147 Personal communication with Carlyn Cox, director of elementary teaching and learning, Des Moines Public Schools, November 12, 2014; Des Moines Public Schools, “Des Moines Public S chools Textbook Adoption Procedures” (2014), on file with authors.
159 Ibid. 159
148 Ibid. 148
162 Ibid. 162
149 Ibid. 149
1 163 63 Personal communication with Dick Meyer, director of assessment and curriculum, Kearney Public Schools, November 6, 2014.
150 Ibid. 150 151 Personal communication with Pam Ehly, director of 151 instruction, Iowa City Community School District, November 24, 2014; Iowa City Schools, “Curriculum Review Over view,” available at http://www.iowacityschools.org/files/_qRBud_/4cd1344a5d3ced093745 a49013852ec4/Curriculum_Review_Overview.pdf (last a49013852ec4/Curriculum_Review_Overview.pdf (last accessed March 2015).
160 Ibid. 160 161 Ibid.
164 Ibid. 164 165 Ibid. 165
54
Center ffor or American Progress | The Hidd en Val ue of o f Curri Cu rriculu culu m Re form
Our Mission
The Cent Center er for Ame Americ rican an Progress is an independent, nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans, through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Our aim is not just to change the conversation, but to change the country.
Our Values
Our Approach
As progressives, we believe America should be a land of boundless opportunity, where people can climb the ladder of economic mobility. We believe we owe it to future generations to protect the planet and promote peace and shared global prosperity.
We develop new policy ideas, challenge the media to cover the issues that truly matter, and shape the national debate. With policy teams in major issue areas, American Progress can think creatively at the cross-section of traditional boundaries to develop ideas for policymakers that lead to real change. By employing an extensive communications and outreach effort that we adapt to a rapidly changing media landscape, we move our ideas aggressively in the national policy debate.
And we believe an effective government can earn the trust of the American people, champion the common good over narrow self-interest, and harness the strength of our diversity.
