Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Dear District Administrators,
We are pleased to share with you the results of the new data collection done this fall regarding the instructional materials in literacy and mathematics adopted in your districts. It is great that over 80 percent of districts responded. We immediately began getting requests to see the final data. We know that this information will be helpful for many reasons, such as the ability to observe instructional materials being used, negotiating purchasing discounts with your neighbors, or contracting for professional learning from a vendor in a consortium using the same materials.
We are not posting this document anywhere at this time--we are only sending it to you for your use. However, know that it is a public record, and would need to be turned over upon request. We are also working on some visual displays of this data, such as a map of Wisconsin, where we will display where certain materials are being used, to make use even easier. Our target for posting such a display on our website is next fall.
For those of you that are not aware, there is a website where you can check to see if the materials you are using are aligned to the Wisconsin academic standards. EdReports.com is like a consumer reports rating for education instructional materials. Check to see if your materials are aligned. Also, know that EdReports doesn’t rate for things like diverse representation in texts--you will still need to evaluate materials for that and other things you care about. All green rated materials are not created equal.
Most importantly, how you support the use of a set of high quality instructional materials makes all the difference. DPI has invested in a year-long series with Instruction Partners, (a non-profit committed to helping schools and districts with academic growth) to train every one of our CESAs and our large urban districts, to learn about how to engage in this process in a deeper way than you may have in the past. If you are preparing for a materials adoption, they have created a Curriculum Support Guide that walks a district through the very intense process required to really engage in a successful adoption process and then plan for and design the proper support for implementation of a new set of materials (about a 3-5 year process to do it really well). Check out the guide, and please reach out to your CESA if you would like their assistance with your adoption or implementation process. They can also help you if you aren’t able to adopt right now, but are finding out your materials are not aligned.
If you have any questions about this data, please email implwisconsin@wcer.wisc.edu.