What We Teach: K-12 School District Curriculum Adoption Process, 2017

Elaine Allen, Ph.D.
Professor of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, UCSF
Co-Director, Babson Survey Research Group

Jeff Seaman, Ph.D.
Co-Director, Babson Survey Research Group

 

TABLES

Respondent

 

What was your role in the selection of full-course curricula material?

Solely responsible

2.1%

Led a group

48.5%

Member of a group

18.2%

Influenced

6.5%

No decision role

18.8%

Other

6.0%

 

How familiar are you with the decision process for the adoption of full-course curricula materials for your district?

I am very familiar

78.8%

I am somewhat familiar

17.4%

I am not familiar

3.8%

 

Nature of Curricula Decisions

 

Did Your District Make an Adoption Decision for Full-Course Curricula Materials in the Past Three Years?

Yes

77.1%

No

22.9%

 

District Full-Course Curricula Materials Adoption Decision by Size of District

0 - 999

1,000 - 2,499

2,500+

72.3%

72.7%

83.7%

 

Number of Subject Areas of District Full-Course Curricula Materials Adoption

1

33.9%

2

35.7%

3

16.2%

4

14.2%

 

Subject Area of District Full-Course Curricula Materials Adoption

Mathematics

58.5%

English Language Arts

44.2%

Science

29.5%

History and Social Studies

18.8%

 

Decision Makers

 

Who Has a Role in District Full-Course Curricula Adoption Decisions

 

Decision making

Advice

Others

10.0%

10.0%

Parents

17.5%

29.8%

Outside experts

21.0%

31.0%

Principals

73.3%

18.2%

District-level administrators

75.0%

18.8%

Teachers

92.7%

5.7%

 

Role of Parents in District Full-Course Curricula Adoption Decisions by District Size

 

0 - 999

1,000 - 2,499

2,500+

Decision making

13.9%

14.9%

20.1%

Advice

27.8%

26.9%

33.6%

 

Factors Driving Selection

 

Importance of Factors in District Full-Course Curricula Adoption Decisions

 

Critical

Very important

Important

Somewhat important

Not important

Comprehensive content

44.1%

40.1%

12.4%

2.2%

1.1%

Works with our technology

38.6%

41.2%

17.1%

1.5%

1.5%

Cost

38.9%

30.9%

23.8%

4.7%

1.8%

Supplemental materials

20.4%

42.0%

28.8%

7.5%

1.3%

Adaptable/editable

19.8%

39.0%

28.9%

8.6%

3.7%

Includes test banks

11.6%

33.6%

32.9%

16.9%

5.0%

Easy to find

11.3%

32.7%

33.8%

14.1%

8.2%

Recommended by others

7.1%

30.0%

36.2%

22.1%

4.6%

On state-approved list

14.3%

17.0%

18.8%

13.9%

36.0%

Familiarity with brand

3.1%

18.0%

32.1%

33.2%

13.6%

 

Importance of Cost in District Full-Course Curricula Adoption Decisions by Percentage of Students Aged 5-17 in Poverty

 

Percent of students 5-17 in poverty

 

0 - 10 %

10 - 25 %

25+ %

Critical

25.7%

39.1%

51.5%

Very important

39.6%

31.8%

20.6%

 

Curricula Sources

 

Publisher of Full-Course Curricula Materials

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

46.2%

Pearson Education, Inc., (Prentice Hall, Longman ELT, Scott Foresman)

41.8%

McGraw-Hill School Education LLC (Glencoe, Macmillan, SRA)

40.4%

Other

25.1%

EngageNY

14.3%

Cengage Learning (Brooks Cole, Heinle, National Geographic Learning, South-Western)

13.2%

Discovery Education, Inc.

9.1%

Holt Rinehart and Winston

5.0%

National Geographic / Hampton Brown

4.7%

Scholastic, Inc.

3.5%

Great Minds

2.3%

Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc.

0.6%

Mathematics Vision Project

0.3%

 

Districts Selecting EngageNY as a Publisher of Full-Course Curricula Materials by Percentage of Students Aged 5-17 in Poverty

Poverty

Rate

0 - 10 %

11.4%

10 - 25 %

11.8%

25+ %

23.2%

 

Decision Process

 

What was the Primary Reason for Replacing the Previous Curricula Material?

Changing standards

69.5%

Regular review

8.2%

Teacher dissatisfaction

4.7%

District dissatisfaction

2.2%

Other

14.5%

Don't Know

0.9%

 

How long had the previous curricula material been in place before being replaced?

1 to 2 years

1.3%

3 to 5 years

12.6%

6 to 10 years

56.8%

Over 10 years

22.7%

Does not apply

1.6%

Don't Know

5.0%

 

How many alternatives were initially considered for possible adoption?

1

2.6%

2

10.0%

3

27.3%

4

18.0%

5

14.8%

6 +

17.7%

 

How Many Alternatives were Actively Reviewed?

1

4.3%

2

25.9%

3

41.6%

4

10.8%

5

3.6%

6+

6.6%

 

Length of Curriculum Review Process

1 month

1.3%

2 - 3 months

14.4%

4 - 5 months

21.7%

6 - 9 months

32.9%

10 - 12 months

16.6%

13 - 18 months

3.8%

19 - 24 months

4.8%

Over 2 years

1.6%

Don't Know

2.9%

 

Length of Curriculum Review Process by Percent of Students Aged 5-17 in Poverty

 

0 - 10 %

10 - 25 %

25+ %

1 - 3 months

36.1%

0.0%

0.0%

4 - 9 months

49.5%

0.0%

0.0%

10+ months

13.1%

0.0%

0.0%

 

Awareness of Licensing and Open Educational Resources

 

Awareness of Legal Permissions

 

Creative Commons

Public Domain

Copyright

Very Aware

15.2%

28.0%

42.5%

Aware

23.0%

45.3%

40.7%

Somewhat Aware

18.0%

18.0%

13.6%

 

Awareness of Open Educational Resources

Very Aware

19.2%

Aware

31.2%

Somewhat aware

14.7%

Not aware

0%

 

Awareness of OER and Creative Commons

Very Aware

12.8%

Aware

15.4%

Somewhat aware

5.8%

Not aware

66.1%

 

Awareness of OER and Creative Commons by Size of District

 

 

0 - 999

1,000 - 2,499

2,500+

Very Aware

5.8%

13.9%

16.6%

Aware

14.4%

13.1%

18.7%

Somewhat Aware

7.2%

6.6%

4.8%

 

Awareness of the U.S. Department of Education's #GoOpen Campaign

Very familiar

5.7%

Somewhat familiar

14.5%

Heard of

19.3%

Not aware

60.5%

 

Open Educational Resource Material Adoptions

 

Awareness and Adoption of OER Full-Course Curricula

 

 

Adopted

Considered

Aware

Eureka Math Great Minds

11.9%

14.3%

24.4%

NYS Common Core ELA Curriculum

3.6%

7.1%

25.1%

NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum

0.9%

7.3%

24.0%

Core Knowledge Language Arts Core

3.4%

6.0%

21.8%

Secondary Two Mathematics: Integrated Pathway

1.5%

4.1%

15.4%

Secondary Three Mathematics: Integrated Pathway

1.3%

4.3%

14.5%

Secondary Math One

1.5%

4.1%

14.3%

The Utah Middle School Math Project

0.6%

1.7%

12.6%

Integrated Science: Utah State Office of Education

0.0%

2.3%

10.0%

Science: Utah State Office of Education

0.0%

2.1%

9.6%

Earth Science: Utah State Office of Education

0.0%

1.5%

8.6%

Chemistry: Utah State Office of Education

0.2%

1.3%

8.6%

Physics: Utah State Office of Education

0.2%

1.3%

8.5%

Biology: Utah State Office of Education

0.0%

1.3%

8.5%

 

OER Product Awareness

 

Use

15.8%

Considered

20.6%

Aware

30.9%

Unaware

32.7%