Build a Culture ofAlignment to Set the Table for a Successful School Year

Why a Culture of Standards Alignment Matters

As schools launch into a new academic year, leaders face a familiar challenge: ensuring that every student has consistent opportunities to learn and succeed. Because student achievement is measured by mastery of state standards in all 50 states, providing standards-aligned instruction is the most reliable strategy to ensure mastery of grade-level knowledge and skills.

While promoting the use of standards-aligned materials has become a key policy lever for academic improvement, adopting standards-aligned materials is not enough. Long-term improvement requires a culture of alignment – a systemwide commitment to making the state standards the foundation of all instructional decisions.

Fostering a culture of alignment demands a systemic focus on the standards in all aspects of the instructional program:

• Professional development builds teacher capacity around the standards.

• Curriculum clearly defines mastery expectations.

• Assessments align with the standards.

• Classroom instruction and observation consistently reference the standards.

When district leaders, principals, teachers and staff share this commitment, schools enjoy a unified approach to student success.

Evidence from Research

Two recent studies reinforce the need for campuses and district leaders to develop a culture of alignment in order to improve students’ academic achievement. Focusing solely on adopting standards-aligned materials is simply not sufficient.

RAND Findings

A recent RAND Corporation study, Teachers’ Use of Instructional Materials from 2019-2024, found that the use of standards-aligned instructional materials has increased over the past five years. During the 2023-24 school year, approximately 44% of English Language Arts (ELA) teachers and 55% of math teachers reported using at least one standards-aligned instructional material. (RAND, pg. 2) However, many teachers still "mix and match" resources, often relying on self-created with commercially created materials. (RAND pg. 20). Significantly, teachers were less likely to cobble materials when district policies and principal support emphasized consistent use of standards-aligned curricula (RAND pgs. 36-37).

McKinsey Insights

Research from McKinsey’s Spark & Sustain global study (2024) found that only 1 in 5 systemwide improvement efforts worldwide succeed (McKinsey, Spark & Sustain, 2024, pg. 8). However, systems that use all seven “how” levers for improvement (coherence, prioritization, evidence, leadership, structures, teacher capacity, and persistence) are six times more likely to achieve learning gains (McKinsey, 2024, pgs. 14–16).

While the RAND study reveals that more teachers are using standards-aligned materials, the McKinsey study suggests that significant academic improvement requires a consistent, systemic focus on the standards to improve student achievement.

What Does a Culture of Standards Alignment Look Like?

In our whitepaper, Navigating to Successful Student Outcomes with Standards-Aligned Instruction, we outlined the steps leaders can take to foster a culture of alignment. These include:

• Clarify the interconnected roles of standards, curriculum, and instructional materials. Standards set the expectations, curriculum maps the journey, and materials support teachers in delivering instruction.

  
  

• Adopt and communicate a written curriculum. Ensure that the curriculum defines clear expectations for mastery of each standard, identify aligned resources, and include formative and summative assessments.

  
  

• Invest in professional learning. Focus professional learning on helping teachers deeply understand the standards and how to use their district materials effectively to help students master the standards.

  
  

• Leverage Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Structure teacher collaboration around analyzing student performance and aligning instruction to achieve standards mastery.

• Focus classroom observations on alignment. Ensure that administrators and coaches regularly reference standards and provide standards-aligned feedback during classroom walkthroughs.

• Use data to inform instruction. Analyze assessment results on a regular basis to refine curriculum, guide instruction, interventions and enrichment, and inform the selection of new instructional materials.

When standards serve as the non-negotiable foundation of instruction, educators create consistent opportunities for all students to succeed.

Four Practical Steps for Leaders

District and campus leaders can start building a culture of alignment with these four steps:

1. Set a Clear, Shared Vision

Clearly communicate that student mastery of state standards is the district’s central academic goal. Reinforce this vision in meetings, professional development (PD) sessions, and classroom walkthroughs.

2. Deepen Teacher Understanding of Standards

Provide training that helps educators understand what mastery of a standard looks like in student work—not just in the wording of the standards themselves. Use their instructional materials to provide standards-aligned examples and real-world applications.

3. Make PLCs Standards-Centered

Center collaboration efforts around the specific standards being taught, how mastery will be assessed, and what instructional adjustments are needed. Use data and student work to identify gaps and adapt instruction accordingly.

4. Align All System Levers

Curriculum, materials, assessments, professional development, and coaching must all point toward the same goal – student mastery of standards.Leaders must create an interconnected system that holds all parts accountable to the same set of expectations.

The Bottom Line

When a district or campus builds a culture of standards alignment, every adult is focused on the same goal and every student has consistent opportunities to succeed. Using standards-aligned materials is a necessary component, but reliance on materials alone is an insufficient strategy to prepare all students to master the standards. By embedding standards alignment across leadership, collaboration, instruction, and supports, districts truly set the table for a successful school year.

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