The short answer is yes. The materials teachers use to enhance the curriculum significantly impact how they teach and how students learn. In fact, high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) can influence classroom learning more than reducing class sizes.
What are high-quality instructional materials?
So, what puts the “high-quality” in HQIM? EdReports, a leading independent non-profit led by educators who review educational resources, considers two primary criteria:
- It aligns with college-level and career-ready standards
- It’s easy to use for teachers and students
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) adds that HQIM are meaningful, affirming, and grade-level appropriate.
And what’s wrapped up in the term “instructional materials?” That’s a large umbrella that covers everything from textbooks to digital media, lectures, readings, and more.
Quality over Quantity
The recent focus on HQIM springs from a growing body of research that ties the quality of learning materials to better outcomes—from boosting student learning to supporting students who are under-resourced.
Yet teachers still feel their resources are falling short. In an Education Week report, only 18% strongly agree that their resources align with standards, and just 39% say they felt “very prepared” to teach those standards.
Textbooks are part of the HQIM equation, but they aren’t in and of themselves a curriculum. In searching for other materials to use in class, teachers spend an average of 12 hours per week looking for instructional resources from external organizations or creating them themselves. 90% of teachers rely on Google for at least some of their materials.
Digging into their own numbers, EdReports found just 41% of math materials and 52% of English Language Arts (ELA) materials met expectations for standards alignment.
Not Just a Trend
There’s growing support for HQIM that aligns with standards, curriculums, and learning goals. For example, The CCSSO Instructional Materials and Professional Development Network now supports 12 U.S. states as their districts adopt HQIM.
The Louisiana Department of Education has adopted its own HQIM ratings to help guide schools toward resources worth purchasing. Similarly, Nebraska launched its Nebraska Instructional Materials Collaborative to better equip educators and support students.
Teachers champion HQIM too. In fact, teachers ranked access to high-quality instructional materials as a top funding priority, above higher salaries, and on par with hiring additional staff.
Teacher and Student Benefits
Teachers are under a lot of pressure to find instructional resources. HQIM saves teachers the time and hassle of finding, creating, and evaluating their materials. They know, with confidence, that the materials align with the curriculum, and have been thoroughly vetted.
Students benefit from accessing HQIM in two significant ways:
- Gains in student achievement: Research from the Centre for Education Policy Research at Harvard found that, “in fourth- and fifth-grade math, switching to a top-ranked textbook would translate to student achievement gains of 3.6 percentile points—larger than the improvement of a typical teacher’s effectiveness in the first three years on the job.”
- Narrowing the learning gaps between students: “When students who started the year behind had greater access to grade-appropriate assignments, they closed the outcomes gap with their peers by more than seven months,” according to a report from The Opportunity Myth.
Get Started with HQIM
Are you ready to make high-quality, standards-aligned instructional materials a priority? The best way to make an impact with HQIM is to make it a part of your curriculum mapping, lesson planning, and auditing processes.
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