Eleven years ago, the editors of Educational Leadership invited me to contribute an article to its March 2011 issue, "What Students Need to Learn." The timing of that issue made sense. A year earlier, nearly every state had adopted the Common Core State Standards, but to make the promise of higher standards real in classrooms, educators and students needed access to great curriculum, too.
Since then, there's been a great deal of momentum on creating and identifying high-quality curricula. State agencies, led by Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Tennessee, are now seriously reviewing instructional materials and creating incentives for school districts to adopt evidence-based curricula aligned to rigorous standards. About 20 states have mandated that English language arts instructional materials be based on the science of reading, which emphasizes explicit phonics instruction and improving reading comprehension by building background knowledge and supporting vocabulary acquisition. States and other independent reviewers are also positively influencing district adoptions by creating transparency around the quality of curricula across content areas and grades. For example, when Texas wanted to offer open educational resources to schools, it turned only to those that had been through a rigorous third-party review.
When I wrote that 2011 article for EL, I led a full-time staff of two at Great Minds PBC, where we conducted research and advocacy in support of a well-rounded, content-rich education. At the urging of educators, we developed English language arts materials to help teachers translate the Common Core into classroom lessons. In 2012, New York state invited us to develop a comprehensive, standards-based math curriculum. The result was EngageNYMath, which led to Eureka Math; together they became the most widely used elementary math curricula in the country (Opfer, Kaufman, & Thompson, 2016). We have since created complete English language arts and science curricula.
We aren't alone in trying to disrupt and improve the K–12 curriculum market, long dominated by three multinational textbook companies. Other curriculum developers have also flourished in the past decade, reinforcing how rapidly the curriculum market is evolving. But there is still much more work to be done if we endeavor to provide a content-rich education to all students. Recent research has demonstrated that opportunity gaps in quality curriculum continue to affect low-income students and students of color disproportionately (TNTP, 2018). The pandemic has only exacerbated these gaps, accelerating calls for higher-quality instructional materials from organizations like the Council of Chief State School Officers and others (NWEA, 2022).
Having high expectations for all students must be our starting point, and we need to focus on systematically developing their background and content knowledge.
Over the course of our work, we have learned important lessons about developing high-quality instructional materials and how to implement them in K–12 classrooms. Five central lessons for school and district leaders stand out and can help continue to move the field forward.
1. Prioritize High Standards and Developing Student Background Knowledge
Having high expectations for all students must be our starting point, and we need to focus on systematically developing their background and content knowledge. Cognitive scientists have long recognized that the key to acquiring additional knowledge and skills is to have a considerable amount of background knowledge already, since topics, texts, or problem sets become more complex over the course of a school year or as kids advance through grades (Willingham, 2006).
With greater background knowledge, students can build on what they know. For example, learning basic concepts about simple fractions in elementary school helps students solve complex algebraic equations in high school. So a math curriculum should focus on the foundational concepts that explain how numbers work. Instead of being drilled only on the basic algorithms and facts (such as 2 x 3 = 6), instructional materials must help students go deeper, understanding "the why" behind the math (why 2 x 3 = 6).
To strengthen students' content knowledge, great literature and authentic documents, like core historical texts, ought to be the cornerstone of ELA instruction. Unfortunately, basal readers have historically driven most elementary school literacy instruction. They're often dull, fail to teach kids about important topics, lack cohesion, and teach grammar, vocabulary, and related skills in isolation.
There is no shortage of great books, many of them beautifully illustrated, around which to build a curriculum. As students read books that have won Newbury, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, and other awards, they can engage with lessons on vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and writing in the context of the reading, not in isolation.
In science, knowledge matters, too. Students shouldn't have to sit through instruction focused on learning a series of isolated facts but should instead be allowed to deepen their understanding of authentic scientific phenomena, such as how hurricanes occur or how the Grand Canyon was formed. They should actively conduct investigations, ask questions, explore hypotheses, and discuss their insights into those real-world phenomena.
2. Empower Teachers
Teachers must have a leading role in developing curriculum. Major textbook publishers typically hire professional curriculum writers to develop massive grade-level textbooks, with page after page of checklists to cover, formulaic math problems to solve, or vocabulary to memorize. Unfortunately, without authentic, deep teacher input, these materials are not always classroom friendly and are often best described as "a mile wide and an inch deep."
While teachers have been developing their own curricula for years, the materials they assemble have often been ad-hoc and uncoordinated. How many thousands of teachers have spent their Sunday nights searching the internet to cobble together lesson plans for the upcoming week? These well-meaning but inefficient efforts undoubtedly have contributed to the burnout that is leading to teacher shortages.
We took a different approach when we developed EngageNY. We recruited great teachers to write New York's preK–12 math curriculum, working with expert mathematicians. Somehow, they maintained full-time classroom loads, developing the curriculum at nights and on weekends. The work was difficult, but many of these educators said they were glad to be tapped for this role and thrilled to see their expertise valued. "Our job was to help the mathematicians stay focused. It felt so good to have mathematicians and teachers in the same room," said Pia Mohsen, a former New York City teacher who helped write EngageNY.
Teachers must have a leading role in developing curriculum.
Relying on teachers, and embedding them in our organization, offered an additional benefit: the ability to respond in real time to student needs. For example, at the beginning of the pandemic, we developed a comprehensive set of online lessons in math, English language arts, and science for anyone to use in a matter of weeks. Many teachers split their time between working for their schools and working for us. They created video lesson plans and advised curriculum writing that greatly contributed to our online resources.
In developing new curriculum, schools and districts can follow a similarly collaborative model.
3. Make It Coherent
Too many K–12 curricula include what some observers describe as "random acts of knowledge." Because textbooks typically are written in a fragmented way, by a range of writers across grades who don't work as a close team, there is often little connection between what a student learns from one grade to the next. Teachers of the higher grades are regularly frustrated that their incoming students have not learned prerequisite concepts. Teachers in the lower grades are often unclear where their instruction is leading. Moreover, when all grades are working in silos, effective professional development is difficult.
Coherence within and across grades must anchor any curriculum-writing effort. In math, for example, our curriculum writers aim to tell the unfolding story of mathematics from prekindergarten through high school as expressed in the standards. In elementary school, the main concepts are units; in middle school, ratios; in high school, functions. But they are all part of one big mathematical story, and the curriculum constantly reinforces the connections.
Similarly, in our approach to ELA, each unit centers on a topic, such as identity, language, and power in literature. Daily instruction focuses on great books that illustrate these topics. There's a direct, intuitive correlation between topics that come up in, say, kindergarten—such as how life in America has changed over time—to concepts like immigrant experiences that are studied in 3rd grade. And shared instructional practices and related routines help ensure continuity across grades.
4. Rethink and Align Professional Learning
A great curriculum alone is not enough. Harvard researcher Tom Kane (2019) observed:
It may be a mistake to think of curriculum choice and instructional-practice changes as alternative ways of improving student outcomes. Rather, to gain the benefits of either, districts may need to do both.
Too often, professional development centers on one-off, content-agnostic workshops. The best professional learning, by contrast, is content-focused, incorporates active learning, supports collaboration, uses models of effective practice, provides coaching and expert support, offers feedback and reflection, and provides teachers with adequate time to learn and practice new strategies (Hammond, Hyler, & Gardner, 2017).
To ensure that professional learning is most effective and meaningful, classroom teachers should deliver it. We first asked teachers to do this out of necessity when developing the New York math materials. Deadlines were so tight that we had no time to train a separate set of presenters, so the teachers who wrote the materials also introduced them in their classrooms. Demand became so great that we again asked classroom teachers for help by creating a program through which great teachers split their time between their schools and our multi-day and summer PD programming. This job-sharing arrangement is a win-win; districts keep and further develop their best educators, while professional development attendees benefit from their colleagues' expertise.
5. Commit to Research and Learning from Mistakes
Our experience has not been free of missteps. For example, we tried unsuccessfully to launch a social studies curriculum several years ago. Our Alexandria Plan was a set of text studies, centered on a series of well-written and beautifully illustrated anchor texts about U.S. and world history. Students and teachers dug deeply into the materials by answering text-dependent questions and completing aligned performance assessments. But we didn't fully understand what educators wanted. They preferred more concrete lessons and were more focused on getting high-quality reading and math materials. Plus, our timing was off; there were no national social studies standards to help drive demand.
However, we learned from our mistakes. We now know that educators want a complete curriculum, so we're developing materials that progress through global and U.S. history with a focus on primary sources. Direct instruction and extensive inquiry will help students develop the habits of mind necessary to think and write as historians—and to participate fully in our democracy.
Generally speaking, there is still so much we don't know about the impact of quality curriculum on student learning and teacher effectiveness. For example, how can we isolate the impact of curriculum on student learning and teacher satisfaction? We know good implementation matters, but we can't say for sure what that looks like everywhere. Does quality professional development improve teacher retention and recruitment? What kinds of instructional materials and supports do families need to help with homework?
To try to answer questions like these, we have formed a five-year research partnership with Florence (Arizona) Unified School District #1 and the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Education Policy to study what happens when all students in a traditionally low-performing K–8 public school have access to high-quality curriculum and aligned teacher professional development.
Schools and districts can learn from our example: Curriculum, and how educators understand its impact on learning, needs continual testing and refinement.
Where We Go from Here
It's now up to district leaders to make use of all that we and others have learned about the impact of high-quality materials and aligned PD. For example, they can use independent reviews from the Louisiana Department of Education and other states and nonprofits to make informed procurement decisions. They can ensure professional development is relevant and focused on helping teachers fully understand the content they are teaching by replacing one-off workshops with ongoing coaching. They can empower families to become knowledgeable about what their children should be learning at each grade level so that they can provide support at home.
Eleven years ago, I wrote: "As teachers align their curriculums to meet the Common Core State Standards, states and districts should use this opportunity to provide and promote content-rich learning material that will ensure that students acquire the necessary base of knowledge to reach the expectations that the standards set forth." Thankfully, they are doing just that. The Common Core helped create the demand for high-quality, aligned curriculum. And independent knowledge-builders are starting to give traditional publishers real competition in ways that benefit the field.
The most important beneficiaries are teachers and students. Reflecting on the impact of high-quality curriculum materials in his community, Scott Langford (2020), assistant director of instruction for Sumner County Schools in Tennessee, wrote in a blog:
In student conversations, seminars, group work, and writing, we see each day that our kids can do abundantly more than we'd imagined. Our dream now is to keep raising the bar and watching our students push even higher.
I couldn't have said it better and look forward to seeing the impact of this work and these positive changes in American education on the young lives of students around the country.
Reflect & Discuss
➛ To what extent do teachers participate in curriculum development in your district?
➛ How can you measure and evaluate curricular coherence across grade levels?
➛ Does professional learning programming align with curriculum development in your district? How could you strengthen this connection?
