Teachers value rigorous support during curriculum rollout

Teachers share reactions to new curriculum adoption for the upcoming school year, and leaders emphasize the need for teacher-centric professional learning.

  • “My district is fully adopting Illustrative Math for the 25-26 [school year.] A couple of grade levels at my school piloted it this past year. Teachers say it takes getting used to how multiple topics are layered through several units rather than condensed into a single-focus unit. Kids are pretty engaged with it; veteran teachers are definitely supplementing with basic facts practice.” —Teacher in Illinois
  • “My school adopted Savvas myPerspectives® for next year. I am actually excited. According to some teachers on the committee that taught myPerspectives® in a previous district, the 2025 edition seems to have some big improvements to the previous one. I have been working on my county’s pacing guide this summer since I am department head and was on the committee that adopted Savvas out of five options. It was by far my favorite.” —Middle School ELA Teacher in Virginia 

On teacher-centric professional learning: 

  • “… We also have to consider when designing professional learning that is teacher-centric: We have to make it relevant, which you do if you make it problem-centered. And, it has to be immediately applicable. And if it is not immediately applicable, [teachers] have to see where we’re going. They have to see what the end goal is, because otherwise we’re adding their plates and we should never be adding to a teacher’s plate. We should be taking things off  – finding better ways, effective ways, streamlining things for educators. They are overburdened.” —Instructional coach in South Carolina
  • “Level four of Thomas Guskey’s five levels of professional learning evaluation is: do participants use the new knowledge and skills they are applying with learning? It’s great that you loved it, you see it, and you leave smiling – but if you’re not applying that skill, we’re making a lot of assumptions with our professional learning. Ultimately, you need to have qualifying information that student learning outcomes are improved.” —Instructional coach in South Carolina
    • “Blocking off time to observe, and making that sacred time is a big challenge in a lot of schools. I think as an Assistant Principal you can take steps to do that, but the reality is that’s going to be a team effort.” —Leader in North Carolina