Nationwide, a growing percentage of kindergarten through grade 12 teachers report regularly using standards-aligned English language arts and math curriculum materials. In this report, the authors use results from the 2023 American Instructional Resources Survey to explore whether teachers feel that the curriculum materials required or recommended by their schools or districts are appropriately challenging for their students.

Do Teachers Think Their Curriculum Materials Are Appropriately Challenging for Their Students?

Findings from the 2023 American Instructional Resources Survey

Sy Doan, Anna Shapiro

ResearchPublished Dec 11, 2023

Nationwide, a growing percentage of kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) teachers report regularly using standards-aligned English language arts and math curriculum materials. Despite this uptick in the regular usage of standards-aligned materials across the United States, not all teachers use these materials for the majority of their instructional time, even when the materials are required or recommended by their districts. For education leaders who hope to use curriculum materials as levers for improving instruction, adopting standards-aligned materials is only the first step. Encouraging teachers to use these materials with integrity remains a challenge.

In this report, the authors use results from the 2023 American Instructional Resources Survey to explore whether teachers feel that the curriculum materials required or recommended by their schools or districts are appropriately challenging for their students.

Key Findings

  • Three in ten K–12 teachers consider the curriculum materials that are required or recommended by their schools or districts to be too challenging for the majority of their students.
  • Teachers in high-poverty schools and less experienced teachers were significantly more likely to report that their materials were too challenging for their students.
  • Math teachers who reported that their required or recommended materials were too challenging were significantly less likely to use these materials for 75 percent to 100 percent of their classroom instructional time.
  • Teachers who reported that they had been using their required or recommended materials for less than a year were more likely to consider those materials to be too challenging for their students.
  • Teachers who reported that their professional learning helped them use their materials to meet student needs were less likely to consider their required or recommended materials to be too challenging for students.

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RAND Style Manual
Doan, Sy and Anna Shapiro, Do Teachers Think Their Curriculum Materials Are Appropriately Challenging for Their Students? Findings from the 2023 American Instructional Resources Survey, RAND Corporation, RR-A134-21, 2023. As of September 7, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA134-21.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Doan, Sy and Anna Shapiro, Do Teachers Think Their Curriculum Materials Are Appropriately Challenging for Their Students? Findings from the 2023 American Instructional Resources Survey. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2023. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA134-21.html.
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This research was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation and was conducted by RAND Education and Labor.

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