Maryland board: many districts adopted highly rated instructional materials, but daily classroom use lags
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Summary
The Maryland State Board of Education Strategy and Operations Committee heard Tuesday that many local districts have adopted highly rated instructional materials but that teacher reports indicate those materials are not being used daily as the materials are designed to be used.
The Maryland State Board of Education Strategy and Operations Committee heard Tuesday that many local education agencies have adopted instructional materials that earn strong external ratings, but classroom use of those materials often falls short of designers' daily-use expectations.
Christine Fulton, director of high quality instructional materials at the Maryland State Department of Education, told the committee the department’s recent survey of LEAs and analysis of national teacher survey data show a gap between district adoption and classroom enactment. "If you know about the design of HQIM, they are expected to be used every day," Fulton said. "Teachers we surveyed report much lower, intermittent use."
The presentation, delivered by Fulton with Dr. Elise Brown, assistant state superintendent of instructional programs, framed high quality instructional materials (HQIM) as elements that can change the instructional core — teacher, student, and content — and said HQIM should be tightly aligned to standards and include supports for multilingual learners and students with disabilities.
Why it matters: MSDE said in 2024 the state board adopted frameworks for identifying quality materials in literacy, math, science and social studies. When districts adopt and implement HQIM as intended, MSDE staff said, students are more likely to experience coherent, grade-level instruction across classrooms and years.
Fulton said MSDE currently uses EdReports ratings to identify "highly rated instructional materials" while the department builds a Maryland-specific review system that will add the state’s five priorities — including multilingual-learner supports and design for teacher use — on top of grade-level alignment. "We have prioritized reviewing materials with the broadest adoption in Maryland for our pilot year," she said; MSDE staff said Maryland reviews will begin to be published this winter.
On adoption versus access: Fulton presented two related measures. One shows the percent of the state’s LEAs that have adopted highly rated (EdReports-passing) materials by grade band; a second shows the percent of students with access to those materials. Fulton noted that adoption rates were strong in math and literacy compared with national averages, but that EdReports has limited reviews of social studies and high school science materials, so MSDE could not present comparable statewide data for those subjects.
On implementation: Fulton summarized LEA self-reports on how consistently teachers enact materials and compared them with teacher-level survey data (RAND / American Instructional Resources). LEA leaders most often rated implementation at a midlevel ("2 out of 3" on the department's scale) while teachers reported lower, more intermittent use. Fulton cited the RAND/AIR responses showing "just over 50% and right at 70% of the teachers surveyed say that they use highly rated materials once a week or more," with much smaller shares reporting use for half or most of their instruction.
Questions from board members focused on linking material adoption and student outcomes, the shift to an integrated high-school algebra sequence, and the presence of local "homegrown" curricular resources. Board members asked whether MSDE can match adoption data with MCAP results or strategic-plan targets; Fulton said this survey was not designed for that direct comparison but that linking outcomes is a desirable next step.
What MSDE will do next: Fulton and Brown said the department will publish an adoption framework in the fall, roll out Maryland-specific material reviews in winter, and develop an implementation framework with training and communities of practice to support district and school leaders. Fulton emphasized that adoption is only step one: "Enacting lessons well and enacting HQIM well is where the real transformation happens," she said.
Ending: The committee did not take formal action on the presentation; members moved on to the next agenda item after a short Q&A.
