How to Make the Most of Your Math Materials

Materials don't come off the shelf (or virtual shelf) perfectly matched to meet all students' needs. The following guide helps you to analyze how well your instructional materials are aligned and what adjustments you may need to consider in order to ensure that all students have access to high-quality, aligned materials.

STEP 1 - Pull up the following resources

• Review tool and evidence guides for K-12 math
  1. Go to edreports.org/review-tools
  2. Select "Math K-8 or High School"
     
• The grade level reviews for your instructional materials
  1. Go to the EdReports math reviews
  2. Enter your program title in the search bar

STEP 2 - Prepare to read the reviews

• Scan the EdReports gateway and indicator graphics to see how the shifts are represented within the reports and tool.
• Consider your data and confer with your team: What grade level/ series would you like to most learn about?

STEP 3 - Read the grade level/ series review

• Locate the report for your adopted curriculum.
• Start with the series summary page: What questions do you have after seeing the thermometer scores and reading the summary evidence?
• Open a grade-level review.
  1. Highlight or take notes on which evidence confirms your experience with the materials.
  2. Highlight (in a different color) or take notes on which evidence you want to learn more about.

STEP 4 - Assess the materials

Use the graphic organizer when answering these questions:

• Do the materials “meet, partially meet, or do not meet” the criteria according to the reports? What are the strengths/weaknesses?
• Does this confirm what we are observing in classrooms? What evidence do we still have questions about?
• In order to align with our district priorities and context, which of these gaps would we address first? Why?
• Can this be addressed through a pedagogical change, professional development, or policy? If so, what would be our strategy?
• If not, is it a simple tweak? Do we omit something? Do we need to swap the unit/chapter with something better?

Download the PDF of this activity to access the graphic organizer.