About Us
Why Educators and Publishers Choose Learning List
About Us
The quality of instructional materials directly impacts the quality of instruction students receive. Founded in 2012, Learning List helps educators choose and use high-quality, standards-aligned materials that support student learning, and helps publishers strengthen the alignment and effectiveness of the materials they develop.
Our hallmark offering is a subscription-based instructional materials review service for schools and districts. This affordable service gives educators access to independent, evidence-based reviews of thousands of widely used PreK–12 resources and allows them to request reviews of additional materials at no extra cost.
To meet the evolving needs of educators and publishers, we have expanded our offerings to include a suite of tools and services:
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Alignment Tool verifies alignment to standards or rubric criteria instantly
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Selection Toolkit to support data-driven, efficient adoptions
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Customized curriculum reviews help districts and publishers improve the standards-alignment and instructional quality of their materials
Everything we do is designed to support informed curriculum decisions, promote instructional quality, and ultimately improve student outcomes.
What Sets Us Apart
Many organizations, including state education agencies, review instructional materials. So, what makes Learning List different?
We expand district choice and preserve local control.
Like Consumer Reports®, Learning List is a private, independent company, not affiliated with publishers or driven by political agendas. While many review entities rate and rank materials to narrow district options, we take a different approach. We provide three thorough, easy-to-read reviews to support local decision-making. Our independent, evidence-based reviews and comparison tools empower educators to identify high-quality, standards-aligned materials that meet their students’ needs best.
We review what districts request, when they need it.
Most review sites evaluate materials based on publisher submissions or historical market share. In contrast, Learning List reviews the materials requested by our subscribers. As a result, our library reflects what districts are actively considering. Subscribers get immediate access to all published reviews and may request additional reviews at no extra cost.
We are a review service, not just a review site.
Unlike static review websites, we provide a responsive, subscriber-driven service. We review materials by request, answer subscribers’ questions to support local adoption efforts, and offer customized reviews to meet unique district and publisher needs. Our interactive tools help educators apply insights from our reviews to guide curriculum selection and instructional decisions.
We deliver timely, high-quality reviews.
While most review entities take months to complete their review process, Learning List publishes three reviews of each material—alignment, instructional quality, and a spec sheet—within six weeks of submission. Each product is reviewed sequentially by multiple subject matter experts, and publishers are invited to provide feedback before we publish the reviews.
We have unmatched depth and breadth of experience.
Learning List has reviewed nearly 4,000 instructional materials from approximately 200 publishers—far more than most other independent review entities. Our library includes core and supplemental resources in both digital and print formats, aligned to a wide range of state-specific and national standards. No other organization matches our breadth or depth of experience across grade levels, subjects, and standards frameworks.
We support instructional use, not just selection.
While other review entities focus solely on helping districts choose materials, Learning List goes further. Our reviews help educators get the most instructional value from the resources they adopt. Detailed alignment reports guide teachers in identifying which parts of a material best support each standard, while our Alignment Tool allows them to instantly check the alignment of additional lessons, activities, or assessments they want to use to fill instructional gaps.