It’s time to get serious about innovation in education. And we don’t just mean more ed tech. The pandemic caused tremendous disruption to U.S. schools this past year and a half — cutting off kids from teachers, peers and learning routines. To simply return to business as usual would be to shortchange students and communities. It is essential to reflect on what has, and has not worked, and be bolder and better going forward.

When it comes to innovation, we’re trying something new while relying on our expertise as curriculum developers. Our nonprofit, Great Minds Schools, is working closely with a district partner and education researchers to identify what it takes for an entire school to implement a high-quality, robust academic curriculum across subjects and grades.  Curriculum quality hasn’t always received the same level of attention as hot-button education issues like teacher evaluations and testing strategies. But research shows that high-quality instructional materials can have a large, positive effect on student outcomes and can better support teachers.

The projects we’re embarking on, which include both delivering instruction and participating in research, will focus on the quality of curriculum used across content areas, how to implement it effectively in the classroom and the support teachers need.

Our first project is a collaborative partnership with Florence (Arizona) Unified School District #1 to provide one of their K-8 public schools, San Tan Heights, with highly rated math, English and science curricula from our publishing subsidiary, along with teacher professional development and coaching. We are also helping the school select or develop strong classroom materials for other subjects, such as social studies, art and music. Families are enthusiastic about the new approach and revamped school. In a state where students have the option of applying to schools outside their neighborhood, about 900 enrolled this year, more than the 550 projected.

Schools typically adopt one new core curriculum per school year, but this year San Tan Heights brought in new resources simultaneously in every core content area. That has challenges, but we’re already seeing benefits, such as rich conversations across subject areas. Typically, when schools adopt a new math curriculum, for example, only the math teachers get related training. But at San Tan Heights, all teachers take part in professional learning related to new resources. So, art, music and science teachers are well versed on what’s happening in math and literacy and are using many of the same instructional routines as their colleagues who teach those subjects. Teachers across content areas also work together to create interdisciplinary learning experiences for their students.

Read the full article about researching high-quality curriculum by Lynne Munson and Steven Shadel at The 74.