MAY 21, 2025

What Was the World Like Before Quality Curriculum Reviews?

How greater access to quality instructional materials and a decade of trusted curriculum reviews have helped teachers better meet their students’ needs.

What happens when teachers don't have trustworthy info about the quality of their materials? That's what it was like 15 years ago before EdReports.

Since the launch of our initial reviews, we've evolved a lot. With our new 2.0 review criteria, we now look for even more indicators of quality, including supports for multilingual learners.

In our latest EdVoices podcast episode, EdReports Manager of Review & Partner Success Jessica Deas shares her journey from math teacher to curriculum advocate, reveals the stark differences before and after having access to high-quality instructional materials, and discusses how EdReports has evolved alongside the field.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Alexis Gentry 00:08

What happens when teachers don't have trustworthy info about the quality of their instructional materials? That's what it was like 15 years ago before EdReports. In 2015, when we published our first reviews, only 14% of K-8 math materials met expectations for quality standards, and today that number is over 50%. Since the launch of our initial reviews, we've evolved a lot. With our 2.0 review criteria, we now look for even more indicators of quality, including supports for multilingual learners. We know that as the standards landscape changes, we need reliable information on quality now more than ever, and that's what EdReports' role is.

I'm Alexis. This is the EdVoices podcast, and today we're joined by EdReports’ own Jessica Deas, who was a math teacher back in those early days of Common Core, and we're going to talk about how the field has evolved and how EdReports has evolved right along with it. So Jesse, thank you so much for being here on the pod. Can we start out with just, introduce yourself, tell people a little bit about your background in education?

Jessica Deas 01:03

Yeah, thanks Alexis. Thank you for having me. My name is Jessica Deas. I live currently in Charleston, South Carolina with my husband and our three kids. Actually, I did not start out working in education. I thought I would be a petroleum engineer, and I spent my summers interning on oil rigs. But I knew I always wanted to work in the community and give back, and so it was an easy shift to teaching. I started teaching sixth grade math in Atlanta back in 2012, and then I worked with middle and high school students for about five years after that. I earned my master's degree in education and social policy in New York City and was able to work with a lot of education nonprofits there—some of them offering free in-school tutoring, some bridging the gap between private sector and public education. And that path eventually led me to EdReports, where I started as a manager on the math team, and then five years later now I am the manager for reviews and partner success.

Alexis Gentry 02:06

We are so happy to have you here. You kind of started teaching around the time that Common Core was first adopted, and it was sort of the wild west back then. So can you tell us a little bit about what it was like as a teacher dealing with instructional materials in those early days of Common Core?

Jessica Deas 02:24

Yeah, so it was the "before times" as you called it. And so it was really like: what instructional materials? Because when I first started teaching, there weren't any. My school at the time hadn't been able to purchase updated Common Core books, so all of our books were outdated and weren't aligned to the new standards. When I first—I remember in summer training right before the school year started, the veteran teachers kind of give you the textbooks and they're like, "None of these are aligned, so just figure it out and make it work." And so it was a lot of time just with me and my co-workers researching online. Pinterest—I still do love Pinterest but for recipes—but Pinterest, Teachers Pay Teachers, things like that, just searching for ways to supplement the textbooks and come up with things to support our students in the classrooms. And this wasn't just me in my classroom; this was the norm at my school. And so we were all kind of just scrambling to adapt to the new standards and find things to support us.

Alexis Gentry 03:29

You know, you mentioned Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers, and I feel like teachers had to go to so many sort of unvetted sources. But how did you and your colleagues, how did you determine what was quality back then, and did you have support from like the district or your school in figuring out what was actually quality curriculum or quality materials?

Jessica Deas 03:51

Yeah, that's a good question. For the second part about what did the district and my school offer, I'll say that we didn't have much support, nothing aligned to the materials that we were supposed to be using. But we did—I can say in my first two years of teaching we went through like four different outside consulting professional development companies. But to be honest, I don't know if they knew any more than we did at that time about Common Core, because it was just so new and the materials and curriculum hadn't quite caught up, at least where I was teaching. And so there was really no professional development around it.

And then for us and the other educators looking for quality and how we were defining it, we were really honestly looking to the test. We knew our students had to take a state test, and so we knew that Common Core, there was this big push for them to be able to explain their reasoning and their thinking. And so basically we took what we had been doing and then add a question that says like, "Now explain what you are thinking," which is honestly a good final place, right? That's a good place to end. But what we really needed was materials that helped us understand how to scaffold, how to differentiate.

When I was teaching at a school, sixth grade math, a lot of my students didn't know how to add or subtract, and I'm really trying to get them to explain to me in detail what a fraction means and how to add and subtract fractions. And so I needed a starting point for them, and so that's really what we needed from materials and from professional development, and we just weren't getting that.

Alexis Gentry 05:29

You know, we've come a long way since then. And of course now you work with EdReports. How do you feel like the materials selection and implementation process has changed, you know, since you kind of were first like, "Here you go, here's your books, like hope this works," to sort of now we have some—we have a tool like EdReports that can help us figure out quality. How do you feel like that process has evolved?

Jessica Deas 05:54

One of the big things—you mentioned EdReports—but another big thing that has changed is that the process is more inclusive now than it was then. I think teacher voice is really valued in material selection, so you'll find that in different districts and schools, they'll use teacher input to really talk about implementation and how these materials might look inside of a classroom. And not only that, parents—I recently was asked to look to review materials for my son's school. Sometimes even students are involved. So overall, the process is just more inclusive.

And then the second thing, as you mentioned, organizations like EdReports are really defining what quality is. We were, as I mentioned, looking to state tests and those things to try to figure out what quality looked like, but EdReports has really defined quality based on evidence and research and educator voice and experts in the field, and compiled all of that and kind of done the groundwork to support people in the selection and implementation process.

Alexis Gentry 06:57

Yeah, you know, you've worked really closely with so many of our reviewers, and they just—they put so much time and effort and expertise into these reviews. Like, what sort of role do you think that EdReports has had and our sort of reviews have had in kind of improving materials or improving that process for educators?

Jessica Deas 07:18

Yeah, I think I spoke to the first part of that—EdReports really took the time to define quality and come up with a comprehensive tool that was like, "This is—we've researched this, we have evidence to back this up—this is what quality looks like in materials."

And the second part of that is something that people don't realize that EdReports had a big part in, which was actually saying that that's now important—that we had to make a case that now this is what quality is, but quality is important. High-quality instructional materials make a difference in the classroom, and EdReports has really been an advocate for that.

And therefore, the last part of that is allowing teachers and educators to be able to use EdReports to advocate in their own spaces. And so we allow teachers to be a part of our review process—they're an integral part of how we review curriculum. We call them content review teams, and they take the time to look through, and that's also a form—we talked about earlier professional development—a professional development for teachers. So they're understanding and learning what quality looks like in materials and are able to apply that not only for our review process, but in their own districts and schools and classrooms.

Alexis Gentry 08:27

Yeah, you know, we talk a lot about professional development as such a key piece of it. Where do—like, what do you see as kind of the significance of professional development, and how does that kind of go hand-in-hand with "Okay, we have great materials, we need to know how to use them." You know, how does the professional development side of that really like help support the use of good materials?

Jessica Deas 08:49

Yeah, you know, I did not go to school for teaching, right? That's an alternative path for me. And so I had an undergrad degree in mathematics, but I didn't have any understanding of Common Core or pedagogy and things like that. And so teachers—I know some people, especially your students, like to think this—we're not all-knowing beings. Like, we don't know everything. And so the education landscape is constantly changing, standards are changing, how we teach things are changing, and even the most experienced educators need time to adapt and need support for that.

So good materials should come with built-in tools to support teachers' learning. So it's not just for students, but it should also support teachers' learning. We don't expect teachers to know everything, and so there should be—in our review criteria actually at EdReports, we do look for materials to have supports and learning and teaching and resources and materials to support teachers in their understanding of the content and also how to support their students. And so you can't have the—you can't have great materials without also pairing that with great professional development to support teachers in using that in implementation in the classroom.

Alexis Gentry 10:00

Absolutely. Yeah, you know, we hear a lot from teachers about kind of a moment when materials really sort of connected for students, or when students kind of had that spark of knowledge with materials. Do you have any—you know, in your experience, was there a time when you remember a student really like who didn't get it and then suddenly they did, and maybe it was connected to materials or to sort of how you were presenting the materials to them? Was there any sort of inspiring moment for you of like, "Oh, this is—this is how it works, this is when it's really working?"

Jessica Deas 10:33

Yeah, that's a good question. And so many—one I can think about is when I was teaching—my last year, I taught seniors in high school. And so you set the scene like this is seniors in high school. I'm teaching them math, where it's the probability unit, and this is like one of the last units of their last class of their K-12 career. So you get where it's going.

Alexis Gentry 10:57

That kind of sets the bar around there. Yeah.

Jessica Deas 11:02

So it's not that my students weren't motivated, but they had bigger things that they were looking for. And it's always best for materials to kind of keep their interest in the materials. And we were in the probability unit, and I know that it was like a suggestion in them to have students create kind of a carnival game to teach them about probability and stuff like that. And I am a person that admittedly goes over the top, Alexis. And so I took that as like—I read it as like, "Let's have a carnival for the school."

And so we did. My students got really into it. They were each charged with making their own carnival game, and the other math classes did as well. We took it outside, and we held a carnival for the entire school. There was popcorn. And the students had to calculate the probability beforehand, and then they also had to record as people were playing their games of like what actually happened, and then write a report on what that looked like. And so it was just really fun. A student bought goldfish to give out during the carnival—I mean, like it was a big deal. But it was also about math, and this came from the materials, right? So they supported our thinking and how can we make this creative?

And I know that's a big one, and it—but it doesn't always have to be that big. There's other ways that materials can support this in classrooms. Like, we planted a garden when I taught middle school, and we were learning about geometric shapes. We planted a garden in those shapes that the students were really interested in. Could also be inside of the classroom—when I taught high school, we did learn about vectors. It was a Harry Potter lesson that came with the curriculum. We talked about Hedwig's flight versus Harry walking and how those two vectors compared. And so materials can really do a lot to inspire creativity and inspire students.

Alexis Gentry 12:55

That's awesome. You know, you don't have to go full carnival, but you know, you can still make the materials connect with kids.

Jessica Deas 13:01

You can. Or you can go full carnival. Either one.

Alexis Gentry 13:05

I mean, full carnival is always an option.

Do you have any advice for teachers in terms of like, if they want to advocate for getting high-quality materials or using high-quality materials? You know, there are so many quality materials out there, and we've reviewed, you know, a huge percent of the market. What advice would you have for teachers in terms of like, "I know they're out there, I'd like them in my school." What can they do to advocate?

Jessica Deas 13:32

Yeah, so there's a lot teachers can do, but I do want to say that anytime we talk about advocacy and teachers, it's going to feel like one more thing on their plate. But I want to acknowledge like fighting for high-quality materials is not only worth it, it's necessary for both teachers and students.

And so I would say start by getting informed. Look at tools like EdReports and really understand what quality means and what that looks like in materials. And then take a look at the materials that you're using and compare and think about your student population. Really take the time to read the reports and understand how this applies to the population that you're serving. Because as you said, Alexis, we've reviewed a ton of things, and a lot of them have high scores. But if you read the report, you'll understand how this really applies to the population.

And then use your voice. That could mean you know, going to city council or speaking to the school board, but it doesn't have to be. It could be talking to your principal, your administration, having a conversation with your colleagues, to parents. But just using your voice to talk about what you're seeing in your materials and how what you can think can be improved.

Use concrete examples. So if you're teaching fractions three different ways because the materials are inconsistent, then say that. Use that as an example. Really take the time to understand what could be better. And then connect with colleagues—advocacy always works better when it's a united front. So if you have a collective of parents, of teachers, of your administration, and you want to present to the district, like I think that's a wonderful way to get involved.

And then I also want to encourage educators and teachers to know that it's not a complaint to say that we need better materials. It's—it's almost like a professional—it's your responsibility, because it helps you do your job well. Imagine how much more you could be doing if your materials laid the groundwork and you weren't spending hours trying to supplement what's there. So you deserve curriculum and materials that support your education and your training, and students deserve the same.

Alexis Gentry 15:40

Absolutely. That's super great advice. I mean, I think like, you know, teachers deserve often way better than they're getting, you know. And so it's always good to be like, "No, stand up for yourself. You deserve these things, and so do your kids, you know. So do the students."

So, any other words of wisdom for maybe teachers who are just starting out, first year teachers, teachers who are feeling sort of overwhelmed with, "Okay, I'm jumping into this." Any tips, anything you can let them know?

Jessica Deas 16:11

One thing I can say is you're doing a good job. You know, you are doing a good job. It may not always feel like it. And like you said, Alexis, education is dynamic. It's fun, it's overwhelming, and sometimes it can be scary. But your students are better for having you there. So take up space, take your time, and then don't be afraid to advocate for what's best for you and for your students.

Alexis Gentry 16:35

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. This is—I mean, this is like so inspiring, and it just makes me want to be like, "Yes, exactly, go teachers. This is great. We're doing the right thing for kids."

So if people want to find more from you, we have a few blogs from you on the resources page, edreports.org/resources, and you can find more there. And of course, you can always find tons of educator resources and all of our reviews at edreports.org.

Well, Jesse, thank you so much for being here with us today, for sharing with us. Thank you so much for watching or for listening. You can go to edreports.org for more information, and we'll catch you in the next episode.