The adoption of high-quality instructional materials can greatly aid student learning. In this report, the authors analyze data gathered through the RAND American Educator Panels (AEP) to explore how districts and schools adopt math curricula and related professional learning. The authors present findings from the AEP surveys and their interviews with district leaders and principals and offer recommendations for education leaders and vendors.

What Factors Drive the Adoption of High-Quality Math Curricula and Professional Learning?

Crosscutting Findings from the American Educator Panels

Lauren Covelli, Rebecca L. Wolfe, Elizabeth D. Steiner, Melissa Kay Diliberti

ResearchPublished Mar 19, 2026

The adoption of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) — materials that have been rated as fully meeting the expectations of EdReports's college- and career-ready standards — is a critical lever that districts and schools can use to support student learning. The uptake of these materials, especially in mathematics, has become increasingly common in U.S. schools.

In this report, the authors use data from two RAND American Educator Panel (AEP) surveys — one of public school districts and one of public school principals — administered during the 2024–2025 school year to explore the adoption of HQIM in math. First, the authors explore how districts and schools make math curriculum adoption decisions and how those processes vary by district size, which, they hypothesize, is indicative of the number of staff and other centralized resources available to support the efficient adoption of HQIM and related PL. Second, they examine how characteristics of curriculum adoption processes, such as the length of time or included stakeholders, relate to the selection of HQIM for math. Finally, they describe the professional learning that is purchased from vendors alongside math curriculum materials and the depth of support or intensity of that professional learning. They present findings from the AEP surveys and their interviews with district leaders and principals and explore how responses differ by district size.

Key Findings

  • Large kindergarten through grade 12 districts tended to have faster adoption processes for math curricula than smaller districts.
  • Principals cited the alignment of math curricula to state standards as their top consideration when making adoption decisions.
  • Math curriculum adoption processes typically involved soliciting input from multiple stakeholder groups, but the final decision was most often made by district-level staff.
  • HQIM were more often adopted when district-level staff had input or made the final decision; such materials were less likely to be adopted when school-level staff had greater input into the decision.
  • Most principals purchased bundled professional learning offered by the curriculum vendor alongside math curriculum adoption.
  • Bundled professional learning was more common in schools that adopted HQIM.
  • According to principal interviews, bundled professional learning supported teachers to master the basics of their newly adopted curricula — such as navigating materials and understanding lesson structure — but was often insufficient for deeper instructional improvement.

Recommendations

  • District and school leaders should centralize curriculum adoption processes but preserve opportunities for school staff to provide input.
  • State and regional leaders should support smaller districts with capacity-building resources for curriculum adoption processes.
  • Curriculum vendors should increase the availability of curriculum-specific professional learning that extends beyond the basics.
  • District and school leaders should consider and provide multiple opportunities for professional learning that extends beyond an overview of the materials to support teachers' implementation of the curriculum in ways that support student learning.

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Covelli, Lauren, Rebecca L. Wolfe, Elizabeth D. Steiner, and Melissa Kay Diliberti, What Factors Drive the Adoption of High-Quality Math Curricula and Professional Learning? Crosscutting Findings from the American Educator Panels. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2026. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4632-1.html.
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This report is based on research funded by the Gates Foundation and conducted by the Education and Employment Program of RAND Education, Employment, and Infrastructure.

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