The 2025 California Math List Has Been Approved! Now What?

Key action steps you can take now that the 2025 California math list has been approved

After a comprehensive review process, on November 6, 2025, the California State Board of Education approved 64 instructional programs for grades K–8, as well as some high school course options. This marks a major milestone in the state’s effort to ensure materials are aligned with updated instructional guidance from the 2023 Math Framework — and opens the doors for districts that have been waiting for the approved list to move their adoptions forward.

What are the key takeaways from the list release?

1. Wider choice, greater responsibility: By approving 64 programs, the state is offering a broad range of choices, giving districts and charters much more range in selecting materials. However, this also means the decision process becomes deeper and more strategic.
2. Prioritize local context and needs: In order to identify the right materials for your context from this long list of options, it’s important to start first with your district instructional vision and a deep analysis of the needs of your context. This will inform the non-negotiables and priorities that you use to deeply investigate materials.
3. Planning starts now: Even though the list of approved programs is a big milestone, districts should already be preparing internal adoption processes, stakeholder engagement (with teachers, students, and families), and mapping out any necessary professional learning around the Framework.

What resources can support my next steps in adoption?

To support your team as you move into adoption planning, we have several resources you can check out:

• Plan out your timeline within our Math Framework Hub — This dedicated portal was designed to help California district and school leaders lead a successful adoption process aligned to the Framework guidelines and timeline set by the state. It contains a detailed adoption-timeline roadmap, checklists, and curated supports for each phase of the process.
• Start with a strong vision of instruction to guide your process — This blog post underscores the importance of having a clear, shared instructional vision before selecting materials. It details how such a vision serves as the “north star” for adoption, guiding decision-making, stakeholder alignment, and ongoing implementation.
• Engage in a needs analysis with CalCurriculum’s Data Discovery Tool — This resource was designed to help districts and instructional teams explore data for your context, identify patterns and needs, and support the selection of materials aligned to your context-specific needs that emerge from your analysis.
• Start your winnowing by checking out our Math Reports page — This page includes a summarized list of all of EdReports’ independent reviews of instructional materials for standards alignment that have been released, including a filter to check out which programs have been reviewed by EdReports and are on the new California state list.
• Consider the capacity and needs of your context to help you further winnow with CalCurriculum’s Hexagon Discussion & Analysis Tool — This tool was adapted by CalCurriculum from NIRN to help organizations evaluate the contextual fit and feasibility of implementing programs or practices in a given context and is designed around six key indicators related to implementation: Need, Evidence, Fit, Usability, Capacity, and Supports.

We encourage teams to explore these resources now to align your internal planning as you dive into leading thoughtful, comprehensive adoption processes.

A New Math Chapter in California, With CalCurriculum by Your Side

This approval of 64 programs is a major step for California’s math instructional landscape. It signals a deep commitment to aligned, equitable, and high-quality mathematics instruction across K-8. But as with any large-scale reform, the real work happens in classrooms — where teachers interact with students daily, and where we want high-quality instructional materials to support high-quality instruction that drives student outcomes.

The next months and years will be about turning this approved list into meaningful, engaged instruction for every student — and the resources above are there to help you take that journey with purpose and clarity. If you want support with your adoption process, check out our Workshops page for upcoming sessions!