Five Tips to Help You Prepare for Successful Adoption Submissions

Whether by verifying standards alignment or validating rubric evidence, Learning List has supported many publishers in preparing for state adoptions and/or reviews by national entities. Based on that work, here are five tips to help strengthen your submissions for district, state, or national instructional materials reviews. 

1. Evidence Must Be Precise, Text-Based, and Task-Level

Reviewers evaluate alignment based on what students are explicitly required to do and what the instructional materials demonstrably include. Valid alignment evidence must be text-based and directly tied to the requirements of the standard or rubric criterion. Citing loosely-related content or requiring reviewers to infer alignment is likely to miss the mark.  

2. Correlate To the Lowest Level of the Standard

Textual evidence must tightly address the content, context and cognitive demand of the lowest level of the standards or the requirement(s) of the rubric criterion. If you are submitting for the Texas Instructional Materials Review and Adoptions (IMRA) process, this means aligning to the TEKS breakouts, not to the romanettes embedded within the standards. Submission evidence that references broad themes, general skills, or instructional intent will not satisfy reviewers' expectations.

3. How You Document the Evidence Matters

Standards correlations and rubric evidence are part of the product you are submitting and should be developed with the same rigor and attention to detail as the instructional materials themselves. Each text-based citation and narrative explanation must clearly and unambiguously demonstrate how the standard or rubric requirements are met. Imprecise citations, vague narratives, or inconsistent terminology can result in low scores, even when the underlying material is strong. When materials address only part of a standard or rubric criterion, documentation should clearly delineate which elements are addressed and which are not, rather than overstating alignment.

4. Understand the Context of Your Audience

Adoption decisions are made within specific state and local political contexts. Academic quality alone may not be sufficient if content is perceived as politically objectionable or misaligned with state or community values. Proactively identifying potential concerns before submission helps keep the focus on instructional quality and standards alignment. In some states, working with a local consultant or lobbyist to navigate the review process may be a necessary part of a successful strategy.  

5. Independent Review Reveals Blind Spots

Internal teams are often too close to the content to identify gaps, overclaims, or misalignment. An early third-party review of the instructional materials or supporting documentation can pinpoint these issues before submission and allow teams to revise strategically, reducing the risk of non-adoption and costly resubmissions.