Increasing Access to High-Quality Instructional Materials
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The problem: The quality of instruction can vary widely among teachers, often depending on their level of preparation to teach and the amount of support their schools can offer. Differences in the opportunities schools offer – in terms of courses and programs of study – predate the COVID-19 pandemic. But the pandemic-era disruption also accelerated some declines in instructional quality and student achievement, compounding opportunity inequalities.
Evidence-Based Supports: RAND's research has reinforced the critical role of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) that are aligned with standards of learning, support teacher training, and provide equal access to opportunities and resources.
- Researchers have documented a big push across states and school districts to ensure that teachers use high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) aligned with academic standards and get needed support from schools.
- Analyses on literacy instruction have evaluated efforts to align teaching with current reading science.
- RAND Survey Panels have captured real-time information showing that many states and districts have made measurable progress in teacher use of high-quality HQIM and evidence-based instruction.
- Rigorous evaluations of mathematics teaching and learning and summer program interventions. In addition, assessments of policies to address education among African American/Black children and young adults and prisoner populations have directly informed strategies to address barriers and improve outcomes.
- Pandemic-era research informed understanding of the widened achievement gaps—particularly among Black, Hispanic, and low-income students in both urban and rural settings—and of how schools placed students in courses without the use of year-end assessments.