The pandemic has taken an enormous academic toll on the nation’s students, especially those in high-poverty schools. In response, states and districts are pursuing a range of interventions, from intensive tutoring to summer learning opportunities. But ensuring that students’ daily classroom instruction is built on high-quality, standards-based instructional materials and teaching techniques should be a core component of the work.

Shifting the focus of state accountability systems from test results to the quality of instructional systems could help. Think of this commitment to instructional coherence as the next phase of the standards movement in public education. As we describe in our essay “Unfinished Agenda: The Future of Standards-Based School Reform,” instructional coherence supports teaching practice and student learning by ensuring that the professional development that educators receive, the materials they use in class and the assessments they give all line up with the expectations for what students should know and be able to do, rather than tugging in different directions.

The interaction among students, teachers and curriculum is key to determining what and how well students learn. Ensuring that teachers have clear signals about what students need to master by the end of the year, high-quality instructional materials and assessments to promote that learning, and training in the materials’ effective use lead to more-coherent instructional systems — and more learning.

A study by the Council of Great City Schools of six urban districts that showed significant improvement in math and reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress between 2009 and 2019 found that they all sought to increase alignment when it comes to instruction. Louisiana has raised achievement statewide using the same strategy, by helping schools and districts implement more coherent instruction, anchored in high-quality materials and teacher training.

Read the full article about getting teaching materials into classrooms by Laura Slover and Mike Cohen at The 74.