What We Teach: K-12 School District Curriculum Adoption Process, 2017

What We Teach:

K-12 School District Curriculum Adoption Process, 2017

I. Elaine Allen, Ph.D.

Professor of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, UCSF

Co-Director, Babson Survey Research Group

Jeff Seaman, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Babson Survey Research Group

TABLES

Respondent

What was your role in the selection of full-course curricula material?
Solely responsible	2.1%
Led a group	48.5%
Member of a group	18.2%
Influenced	6.5%
No decision role	18.8%
Other	6.0%

How familiar are you with the decision process for the adoption of full-course curricula materials for your district?
I am very familiar	78.8%
I am somewhat familiar	17.4%
I am not familiar	3.8%

Nature of Curricula Decisions

Did Your District Make an Adoption Decision for Full-Course Curricula Materials in the Past Three Years?
Yes	77.1%
No	22.9%

District Full-Course Curricula Materials Adoption Decision by Size of District
0 - 999	1,000 - 2,499	2,500+
72.3%	72.7%	83.7%

Number of Subject Areas of District Full-Course Curricula Materials Adoption
1	33.9%
2	35.7%
3	16.2%
4	14.2%

Subject Area of District Full-Course Curricula Materials Adoption
Mathematics	58.5%
English Language Arts	44.2%
Science	29.5%
History and Social Studies	18.8%

Decision Makers

Who Has a Role in District Full-Course Curricula Adoption Decisions
	Decision making	Advice
Others	10.0%	10.0%
Parents	17.5%	29.8%
Outside experts	21.0%	31.0%
Principals	73.3%	18.2%
District-level administrators	75.0%	18.8%
Teachers	92.7%	5.7%

Role of Parents in District Full-Course Curricula Adoption Decisions by District Size
	0 - 999	1,000 - 2,499	2,500+
Decision making	13.9%	14.9%	20.1%
Advice	27.8%	26.9%	33.6%

Factors Driving Selection

Importance of Factors in District Full-Course Curricula Adoption Decisions
	Critical	Very important	Important	Somewhat important	Not important
Comprehensive content	44.1%	40.1%	12.4%	2.2%	1.1%
Works with our technology	38.6%	41.2%	17.1%	1.5%	1.5%
Cost	38.9%	30.9%	23.8%	4.7%	1.8%
Supplemental materials	20.4%	42.0%	28.8%	7.5%	1.3%
Adaptable/editable	19.8%	39.0%	28.9%	8.6%	3.7%
Includes test banks	11.6%	33.6%	32.9%	16.9%	5.0%
Easy to find	11.3%	32.7%	33.8%	14.1%	8.2%
Recommended by others	7.1%	30.0%	36.2%	22.1%	4.6%
On state-approved list	14.3%	17.0%	18.8%	13.9%	36.0%
Familiarity with brand	3.1%	18.0%	32.1%	33.2%	13.6%

Importance of Cost in District Full-Course Curricula Adoption Decisions by Percentage of Students Aged 5-17 in Poverty
	Percent of students 5-17 in poverty
	0 - 10 %	10 - 25 %	25+ %
Critical	25.7%	39.1%	51.5%
Very important	39.6%	31.8%	20.6%

Curricula Sources

Publisher of Full-Course Curricula Materials
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt	46.2%
Pearson Education, Inc., (Prentice Hall, Longman ELT, Scott Foresman)	41.8%
McGraw-Hill School Education LLC (Glencoe, Macmillan, SRA)	40.4%
Other	25.1%
EngageNY	14.3%
Cengage Learning (Brooks Cole, Heinle, National Geographic Learning, South-Western)	13.2%
Discovery Education, Inc.	9.1%
Holt Rinehart and Winston	5.0%
National Geographic / Hampton Brown	4.7%
Scholastic, Inc.	3.5%
Great Minds	2.3%
Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc.	0.6%
Mathematics Vision Project	0.3%

Districts Selecting EngageNY as a Publisher of Full-Course Curricula Materials by Percentage of Students Aged 5-17 in Poverty
Poverty	Rate
0 - 10 %	11.4%
10 - 25 %	11.8%
25+ %	23.2%

Decision Process

What was the Primary Reason for Replacing the Previous Curricula Material?
Changing standards	69.5%
Regular review	8.2%
Teacher dissatisfaction	4.7%
District dissatisfaction	2.2%
Other	14.5%
Don't Know	0.9%

How long had the previous curricula material been in place before being replaced?
1 to 2 years	1.3%
3 to 5 years	12.6%
6 to 10 years	56.8%
Over 10 years	22.7%
Does not apply	1.6%
Don't Know	5.0%

How many alternatives were initially considered for possible adoption?
1	2.6%
2	10.0%
3	27.3%
4	18.0%
5	14.8%
6 +	17.7%

How Many Alternatives were Actively Reviewed?
1	4.3%
2	25.9%
3	41.6%
4	10.8%
5	3.6%
6+	6.6%

Length of Curriculum Review Process
1 month	1.3%
2 - 3 months	14.4%
4 - 5 months	21.7%
6 - 9 months	32.9%
10 - 12 months	16.6%
13 - 18 months	3.8%
19 - 24 months	4.8%
Over 2 years	1.6%
Don't Know	2.9%

Length of Curriculum Review Process by Percent of Students Aged 5-17 in Poverty
	0 - 10 %	10 - 25 %	25+ %
1 - 3 months	36.1%	0.0%	0.0%
4 - 9 months	49.5%	0.0%	0.0%
10+ months	13.1%	0.0%	0.0%

Awareness of Licensing and Open Educational Resources

Awareness of Legal Permissions
	Creative Commons	Public Domain	Copyright
Very Aware	15.2%	28.0%	42.5%
Aware	23.0%	45.3%	40.7%
Somewhat Aware	18.0%	18.0%	13.6%

Awareness of Open Educational Resources
Very Aware	19.2%
Aware	31.2%
Somewhat aware	14.7%
Not aware	0%

Awareness of OER and Creative Commons
Very Aware	12.8%
Aware	15.4%
Somewhat aware	5.8%
Not aware	66.1%

Awareness of OER and Creative Commons by Size of District
	0 - 999	1,000 - 2,499	2,500+
Very Aware	5.8%	13.9%	16.6%
Aware	14.4%	13.1%	18.7%
Somewhat Aware	7.2%	6.6%	4.8%

Awareness of the U.S. Department of Education's #GoOpen Campaign
Very familiar	5.7%
Somewhat familiar	14.5%
Heard of	19.3%
Not aware	60.5%

Open Educational Resource Material Adoptions

Awareness and Adoption of OER Full-Course Curricula
	Adopted	Considered	Aware
Eureka Math Great Minds	11.9%	14.3%	24.4%
NYS Common Core ELA Curriculum	3.6%	7.1%	25.1%
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum	0.9%	7.3%	24.0%
Core Knowledge Language Arts Core	3.4%	6.0%	21.8%
Secondary Two Mathematics: Integrated Pathway	1.5%	4.1%	15.4%
Secondary Three Mathematics: Integrated Pathway	1.3%	4.3%	14.5%
Secondary Math One	1.5%	4.1%	14.3%
The Utah Middle School Math Project	0.6%	1.7%	12.6%
Integrated Science: Utah State Office of Education	0.0%	2.3%	10.0%
Science: Utah State Office of Education	0.0%	2.1%	9.6%
Earth Science: Utah State Office of Education	0.0%	1.5%	8.6%
Chemistry: Utah State Office of Education	0.2%	1.3%	8.6%
Physics: Utah State Office of Education	0.2%	1.3%	8.5%
Biology: Utah State Office of Education	0.0%	1.3%	8.5%