Overcoming Challenges of Standards Alignment

Contents

Teachers’ Beliefs About Instructional Materials’ Alignment to Standards ............ 2 The Three Cs of a Standard ................................................................................. 4 Content........................................................................................................... 4 Context ........................................................................................................... 5 Cognitive Rigor................................................................................................ 6 Why Alignment Matters...................................................................................... 7 Challenges to Reviewing the Alignment of a Material ......................................... 9 Content Challenges ......................................................................................... 9 Context Challenges........................................................................................ 10 Cognitive Rigor Challenges ............................................................................ 12 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 14

Teachers’ Beliefs About Instructional Materials’ Alignment to Standards

According to the 2021 results of the RAND Corporation’s American Instructional Resources Surveys , over 90% of the teachers surveyed consider standards alignment to be an important characteristic in their district-provided instructional materials (question 34). Yet, only between 36-41% of the surveyed teachers (depending on the content area) perceive that their district-purchased materials help their students master their state’s math, English language arts, or science standards (question 35).