CurriculumHQ recently celebrated its third birthday, and a lot has changed since we first started tracking and elevating state leadership around high-quality instructional materials. To honor the occasion, the research team behind this platform and blog recently completed a comprehensive update to our 50-State Action Map. You can find a full report on the lay of the land here, including our methodology for the data collection and the map’s growth over time – but read on for our top three “aha” moments:

1. 1. 1. All 50 states (plus DC) now offer at least some kind of information, guidance, and/or resources related to high-quality instructional materials and curriculum-based professional learning. This is a big deal. When we first started tracking state progress, we found at least a dozen states with no public presence whatsoever when it came to curriculum. And while we give partial credit, this is the first time the map includes at least some information in at least one of our 4 categories nationwide. Is it a coincidence that we’ve seen this progress since CurriculumHQ was born? We think not!
      2. The CCSSO IMPD Network states continue to lead the way – AND a handful of other states have made especially impressive progress over the past few years:
         • Shout-out to Alabama for including specific requirements for curriculum and professional learning in the Alabama Literacy Act and the Alabama Numeracy Act – and extra credit to the A+ Education Partnership for playing an important role in advocating for these initiatives.
         • High-five to Kansas, which had no publicly available state resources in 2022 and has since added a materials evaluation tool and implementation guidance for science and an Instructional Practice Guide in ELA.
         • We’re looking at you, Nevada, for naming high-quality, Tier 1 instruction as the state vision and adding guidance on curriculum selection and adoption.
         • Great work to Oregon for recently including adoption guidance, lists, and several other quality indicators in a Digital Instructional Materials Toolkit.
      3. We still want more. While the growth in just three years is inspiring, we offer a wishlist for continued progress, and encourage all states to do the following:
         • At a minimum, outline a vision or definition for high-quality instructional materials and professional learning and link to resources that support district actions.
         • Ensure literacy and numeracy laws and regulations include high-quality curriculum selection and implementation – from teacher preparation through job-embedded training.
         • Pay more attention to science and especially social studies – at a time when student preparation in these areas is more important than ever.

Happy birthday, CurriculumHQ! We’re proud to celebrate this important progress and hope you’ll join us in advocating for the good work left to do.