Standards

California Set to Adopt Literacy Materials Tied to Common Core

By Liana Loewus — October 06, 2015 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

California, the largest common-core-adoption state, is on the verge of adopting new K-8 English/language arts instructional materials for the first time since it put the Common Core State Standards in place—and nearly all the textbooks that were submitted for review are likely to be approved.

Materials adoptions in the Golden State have historically been influential in defining the publishing market and other states’ curricular choices, but many say this year’s board vote will make less of a splash nationally. For one, California has changed a policy that once required districts to choose from the state-approved list. And states and districts now have access to more materials—including free digital resources—that meet their needs.

The California adoption “probably won’t have the same impact it had before,” said Carrie Heath Phillips, a program director for the Council of Chief State School Officers. Now, “states together are moving the market.”

California’s Instructional Quality Commission, which reviews materials against the state’s curriculum framework, is recommending the state board adopt 25 of the 29 instructional materials submitted. In all likelihood, those materials will be adopted at the board’s upcoming meeting set for the first week in November, according to Thomas Adams, the director of California’s curriculum and instructional-resources division and the head of the commission.

Programs by several major publishers—including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson—are on the recommended list. Two programs by Amplify Education Inc. and two by the College Board were found not to meet the adoption criteria (though other programs by both publishers were recommended). The College Board declined to comment. David Stevenson, vice president at Amplify, said that many California districts have expressed interest in using its new textbook.

“It’s not the adoption process that California had for decades,” said Jay Diskey, the executive director of the Washington-based Association of American Publishers’ P-12 division. “It’s an adoption process that’s probably best described as an advisory process.”

California and Texas were once the two most influential textbook adoption states, with publishers often preparing their materials for the national market based on those two states’ criteria.

Landscape Changes

But the landscape has changed drastically in recent years.

Forty-four states and the District of Columbia are now implementing common standards, meaning their instructional goals are now more similar than ever. Texas, though, never adopted the common core.

California last went through an official adoption process for ELA materials in 2008—just before the Great Recession hit. During the economic downturn, districts were released from the state requirement to buy new materials.

And recently, California moved to a “local control funding formula” that allows districts to continue to bypass the state list of instructional materials, as long as they can prove the programs chosen are aligned to the common-core standards. Other states, such as Florida, have ceded control over instructional materials to districts as well.

Because of the post-recession changes, there’s “been a great deal of nervousness on the part of publishers over the years about what California would do” regarding adoption, said Diskey.

There’s also a glut of open educational resources aligned to the common standards that districts and individual educators can use to guide their instruction. EngageNY, an online library of academic materials created in New York state, for instance, has had an estimated 20 million downloads by educators around the country.

About 200 people—mostly educators—participate in the California materials-review process. The publishers receive the detailed criteria ahead of time, and all commission meetings and analyses are open to the public.

This year’s process was unusually smooth, according to Adams, the chairman. “In the past, we’ve had reading wars, bitter disputes,” he said. “We’ve kind of reached a consensus as a state. There are a broad range of options [for materials], yet they’re all rooted in very solid standards.”

The fact that so many ELA programs are being recommended to the state board this year is “great news” for publishers, Diskey said.

Even if not required to do so, Adams believes, districts have a compelling reason to switch to the new materials: They’re designed to address the needs of English-language learners, who make up a quarter of California’s students. The criteria for the materials required that English-learners receive instruction on grade-level English/language arts content while simultaneously improving their language skills. Previously, students worked on language alone before content.

“What this adoption does is really put in place the gold standard for combining ELA and ELD [English-language development]. There isn’t anything out there that even comes close to what these materials are doing,” Adams said. “I think California districts will embrace these materials enthusiastically.”

Kenji Hakuta, a Stanford professor and English-language-acquisition expert, called California’s expectation of the connection between English/language arts content and English-language development “in a sense, cutting edge.

“I think every state is going to get there eventually,” he said. “But I think California is ahead of the curve in doing this.”

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the October 08, 2015 edition of Education Week as Calif. Set to Adopt Literacy Materials Tied to Common Core

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Standards Explainer What’s the Purpose of Standards in Education? An Explainer
What are standards? Why are they important? What's the Common Core? Do standards improve student achievement? Our explainer has the answers.
11 min read
Photo of students taking test.
F. Sheehan for EdWeek / Getty
Standards Florida's New African American History Standards: What's Behind the Backlash
The state's new standards drew national criticism and leave teachers with questions.
9 min read
Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference at the Celebrate Freedom Foundation Hangar in West Columbia, S.C. July 18, 2023. For DeSantis, Tuesday was supposed to mark a major moment to help reset his stagnant Republican presidential campaign. But yet again, the moment was overshadowed by Donald Trump. The former president was the overwhelming focus for much of the day as DeSantis spoke out at a press conference and sat for a highly anticipated interview designed to reassure anxious donors and primary voters that he's still well-positioned to defeat Trump.
Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference in West Columbia, S.C., on July 18, 2023. Florida officials approved new African American history standards that drew national backlash, and which DeSantis defended.
Sean Rayford/AP
Standards Here’s What’s in Florida’s New African American History Standards
Standards were expanded in the younger grades, but critics question the framing of many of the new standards.
1 min read
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the historic Ritz Theatre in downtown Jacksonville, Fla., on July 21, 2023. Harris spoke out against the new standards adopted by the Florida State Board of Education in the teaching of Black history.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the historic Ritz Theatre in downtown Jacksonville, Fla., on July 21, 2023. Harris spoke out against the new standards adopted by the Florida state board of education in the teaching of Black history.
Fran Ruchalski/The Florida Times-Union via AP
Standards Opinion How One State Found Common Ground to Produce New History Standards
A veteran board member discusses how the state school board pushed past partisanship to offer a richer, more inclusive history for students.
10 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty