Report: An Opening for Change – Learnings from a Cohort Model for Off-Cycle Math Curriculum Adoption

School district leaders increasingly understand the importance of high-quality instructional materials to accelerate math achievement and close achievement gaps. However, many California school districts are using outdated materials that were purchased shortly after 2014. Because California does not plan to release the next formal math materials adoption list until 2024, some districts have been hesitant to select new mathematics materials before then, leaving schools with a high-quality materials gap in the near term.

To help address this problem, CalCurriculum and the California Department of Education worked with 13 California districts and charter management organizations (CMOs) during the 2020–21 school year to establish a cohort learning model. The focus of the cohort was on math curricula adoption best practices to equip districts to select high-quality math materials for their teachers and students, circumventing the typically long gap between statewide adoptions. After engaging in the cohort, participating districts are now well-positioned to adopt higher-quality materials.

The learnings from the cohort, as well as recommendations for state and district policymakers, have been compiled in a new report, An Opening for Change: Learnings from a Cohort Model for Off-Cycle Math Curriculum Adoption. An overview of the adoption cohort’s challenges, learning goals, and outcomes are available in a downloadable poster, here.