Instructional Materials Guide Pilot
CalCurriculum invites California elementary school districts and charter management organizations (CMOs) to partner with us to examine their Language Arts materials.
About the Opportunity
CalCurriculum is excited to introduce a no-cost, grant-funded opportunity for California districts/CMOs serving transitional kindergarten through fifth-grade students to pilot a new, user-friendly guide to explore their Language Arts instructional materials.
Participating districts/CMOs will pilot the guide at their sites in October 2024, and their feedback will inform how we improve and refine the tool. Each district/CMO will receive a $2,300 stipend.
This guide will help elementary instructional leaders answer the following questions about their materials:
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What evidence points can you look for in your instructional materials that align with the guiding principles of effective literacy instruction for all students, including multilingual learners and language variety speakers, students with language-based learning differences (e.g., dyslexia), and students with developmental language disorders?
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What resources can you leverage to ensure that this evidence shows up when implementing your materials in classrooms?
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If your materials do not meet standards, what are your options?
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If your materials are aligned, but you’re not seeing results in your classrooms, what implementation tweaks might you be able to make?
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What evidence points can you look for in your instructional materials that align with the guiding principles of effective literacy instruction for all students, including multilingual learners and language variety speakers, students with language-based learning differences (e.g., dyslexia), and students with developmental language disorders?
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What resources can you leverage to ensure that this evidence shows up when implementing your materials in classrooms?
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If your materials do not meet standards, what are your options?
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If your materials are aligned, but you’re not seeing results in your classrooms, what implementation tweaks might you be able to make?
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More About the Guide
Our guide offers an entry point for improving literacy instruction, regardless of where user districts/CMOs are in their instructional materials journey. Whether you are evaluating new instructional materials (i.e., adoption), improving your existing program (i.e., implementation), or simply collecting information, the tool is designed to support your investigation into whether your literacy materials meet your students’ needs.
We frame multilingualism and language variety as assets and focus on the notion that instructional materials should include student-centered, grade-level, and standards-aligned learning practices to foster student engagement and social belonging, affirm student values and identities, and bridge knowledge to the outside world.
Our guide offers an entry point for improving literacy instruction, regardless of where user districts/CMOs are in their instructional materials journey. Whether you are evaluating new instructional materials (i.e., adoption), improving your existing program (i.e., implementation), or simply collecting information, the tool is designed to support your investigation into whether your literacy materials meet your students’ needs.
We frame multilingualism and language variety as assets and focus on the notion that instructional materials should include student-centered, grade-level, and standards-aligned learning practices to foster student engagement and social belonging, affirm student values and identities, and bridge knowledge to the outside world.
Pilot Options
Option A: Comprehensive Review
If time permits and it is warranted based on your district’s needs, conduct a thorough investigation of your materials from beginning to end using each section of the guide.
Option B: Focused Review
Based on your district’s landscape analysis and areas of need that have already been elevated, you might focus your investigation only on specific sections or select indicators within each section of the guide that are district priorities based on your data and context.
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Example 1: Your district is seeing growth in reading scores but students are lagging in writing. You’re unsure of what needs to change in your curriculum implementation so you focus only on the writing section this year.
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Example 2: You have many newcomer multilingual learners and need to place an emphasis on the Speaking and Listening section of the tool.
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Example 3: You have a group of students with dyslexia in the 4th grade and you need to make a plan to increase support in foundational skills. Your team focuses on the Reading section of the tool.
Option C: Distributed Review
Your district assigns sections of the guide to different members of your team to review.
Option A: Comprehensive Review
If time permits and it is warranted based on your district’s needs, conduct a thorough investigation of your materials from beginning to end using each section of the guide.
Option B: Focused Review
Based on your district’s landscape analysis and areas of need that have already been elevated, you might focus your investigation only on specific sections or select indicators within each section of the guide that are district priorities based on your data and context.
-
Example 1: Your district is seeing growth in reading scores but students are lagging in writing. You’re unsure of what needs to change in your curriculum implementation so you focus only on the writing section this year.
-
Example 2: You have many newcomer multilingual learners and need to place an emphasis on the Speaking and Listening section of the tool.
-
Example 3: You have a group of students with dyslexia in the 4th grade and you need to make a plan to increase support in foundational skills. Your team focuses on the Reading section of the tool.
Option C: Distributed Review
Your district assigns sections of the guide to different members of your team to review.
Time Commitment
Though all options will take different amounts of time, we anticipate the investigation using our guide will take at least ten hours. Teams should include a curriculum leader, classroom educators, and multilingual and unique education specialists. Additionally, district team members will participate in focus groups, surveys, and interviews with UnboundEd. We will individually confirm the exact pilot plan with each district based on your current literacy needs.
Though all options will take different amounts of time, we anticipate the investigation using our guide will take at least ten hours. Teams should include a curriculum leader, classroom educators, and multilingual and unique education specialists. Additionally, district team members will participate in focus groups, surveys, and interviews with UnboundEd. We will individually confirm the exact pilot plan with each district based on your current literacy needs.
Get in Touch
Connect with us at info@calcurriculum.org if you have questions.
Connect with us at info@calcurriculum.org if you have questions.