Instructional Materials Decision Guide
This guide helps teachers sift through the wide array of instructional materials available online and find the best materials for their classrooms.
All teachers need great instructional materials that reflect students’ cultures, languages, and lived experiences and help them build deep content knowledge.
Unfortunately, great instructional materials can be hard to come by. Too many teachers lack access to a comprehensive, standards-aligned curriculum, and as a result, spend considerable time and effort looking for texts, tasks, and other lesson materials on the internet.
In our research for The Opportunity Myth, we saw a huge variation in the quality of the materials sourced from popular websites like Pinterest and Teachers-Pay-Teachers. We put this decision guide together to make it easier for ELA/literacy and mathematics teachers* who don’t already have strong district curricula to find high-quality, grade-appropriate instructional materials online.
*Teachers of science and/or social studies teachers may also find this decision guide helpful. The Next Generation Science Primary Evaluation of Essential Criteria (PEEC) Tool and Quality Examples of Science Lessons and Units can serve as additional resources for science teachers.
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Imali Ariyarathne, seventh-grade teacher at Langston Hughes Academy, introduces her students to the captivating world of science.
About TNTP
TNTP is the nation’s leading research, policy, and consulting organization dedicated to transforming America’s public education system, so that every generation thrives.
Today, we work side-by-side with educators, system leaders, and communities across 39 states and over 6,000 districts nationwide to reach ambitious goals for student success.
Yet the possibilities we imagine push far beyond the walls of school and the education field alone. We are catalyzing a movement across sectors to create multiple pathways for young people to achieve academic, economic, and social mobility.