Guiding Principles for the Adoption of Instructional Materials

This procedure is intended to provide specific guidance to the Instructional Materials Committee (“IMC”) and adoption committees on the selection and adoption of core instructional materials and extended core instructional materials. Board Policy No. 2015, Selection & Adoption of Instructional Materials; Board Policy No. 0030, Ensuring Educational and Racial Equity; and relevant instruments identifying bias in instructional materials must be referred to and referenced in the processes outlined in this procedure.

The Instructional Materials Committee

Recruitment

Committee member recruitment and selection, within the confines of the established structure provided in this procedure, should endeavor to be inclusive and reflect the diversity of our students and families.

Committee Members

The Instructional Materials Committee (“IMC”) will consist of seven (7) members: two (2) standing positions and five (5) additional positions.

The two (2) standing positions are as follows: 

1. Executive Director of Curriculum, Assessment & Instruction or equivalent position, and
2. Manager of Library Services & Instructional Materials or equivalent position.

The five (5) additional positions will be nominated by the Chief Academic Officer (CAO), the Superintendent’s designee, and approved by the School Board to serve four (4) year terms ending the last day of October on the fourth year. These positions shall include the following: 

1. Two principals and/or assistant principals, (one elementary and one secondary), and
2. An instructional materials specialist or equivalent position, and
3. Two parent/guardians (one elementary and one secondary; with students currently attending Seattle Public Schools). 

The School Board will approve up to four alternate volunteers to serve in the additional (non-standing) positions in the event any appointees resign from their positions prior to the end of the four-year term. In the event there is a resignation on the IMC and no alternates are available to fill the position for the remainder of the term, the CAO will present a new nominee to the School Board for approval.

Committee Duties

The IMC is responsible for ensuring that the adoption committee conforms to the policy and legal requirements pertaining to the adoption of instructional materials and adheres to the standards detailed in Board Policy No. 2015 and any others directed by the School Board and/or IMC for a particular adoption. The standards will create the selection criteria to guide the adoption committee evaluation of instructional materials. Within the structure of the established adoption schedule, the purpose of the IMC is to:

• Approve the timeline and communications plan of each specific adoption; 
• Approve the membership of each adoption committee;
• Approve the selection criteria to be used by the adoption committee;
• Certify to the School Board that the final selection of the adoption committee was reached by following the processes and principles outlined in Board Policy No. 2015, this Superintendent Procedure and related Superintendent Procedures, General Criteria for Evaluating Textual Materials for Cultural Relevance and Bias, and Board Policy No. 0030, Ensuring Educational and Racial Equity; and
• Ensure that a professional development cycle is developed to support the implementation of all School Board-approved instructional materials.

The IMC will conduct meetings as needed to support the work of staff and adoption committees. Minutes will be taken of all IMC meetings and posted to the Seattle Public Schools website.

The Adoption Committee

Committee Membership, Selection and Approval

Seattle Public Schools determines the instructional materials for adoption through the evaluative work of adoption committees. Adoption committees will study all instructional materials presented to them as options through the processes outlined below and determine a final selection which should be, in the opinion of the adoption committee, the best instructional materials of the options evaluated. For each adoption, an Adoption Coordinator is appointed by an Executive Director of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction or equivalent position to lead the adoption. The Adoption Coordinator will be an employee of Seattle Public Schools with expertise in the subject of the adoption.

Adoption committees will be made up of members that provide either subject matter expertise or perspectives of family members with current and/or past students in the grades the adoption is being contemplated. As appropriate, additional members may include paraprofessionals, representatives from the English Language Learner, Special Education, or Advanced Learning departments, representatives from institutions of higher learning, and/or community members. The adoption committee will develop norms and expectations for meeting attendance.

The adoption committee should be inclusive and reflect the diversity of our students and families. Communication for recruitment should be sent via channels that reach a broad section of the communities that are represented in Seattle, reaching potential members from racial, ethnic, and language communities. The process for selecting committee members will be inclusive, fair, consistent and transparent. The adoption committee’s proposed membership will be presented to the IMC for review and approval.

Adoption Committee Responsibilities

The Adoption Coordinator is responsible for leading the adoption committee’s work throughout the steps of the adoption process. Some of the initial steps outlined below will be done simultaneously. In addition, depending on the type of adoption, the IMC may approve a variation to the steps provided.

Minutes will be taken at all adoption committee meetings and posted to the adoption webpage.

Step 1—Evaluation of Current Materials

When the district begins a process to adopt new instructional materials pursuant to Board Policy No. 2015, the Adoption Coordinator will work closely with the Research and Evaluation Department to evaluate school-level data for the subject of the adoption. The purpose of the evaluation of school-level data is to learn how district students are doing with the instructional materials currently in use. This will give the adoption committee information on what is currently in use and how it is working.

Step 2—Timeline

The Adoption Coordinator will create an adoption timeline to guide the work of the adoption committee and submit it to the IMC for review and approval. Once approved, the adoption timeline must be followed by the adoption committee. Within the adoption timeline, the Adoption Coordinator will detail the adoption committee’s anticipated calendar of events including the creation of the adoption committee’s selection criteria and engagement plan and will allocate sufficient time to conduct the adoption committee’s review and engagement processes.

The Adoption Coordinator is charged with developing an appropriate timeline including all stages of review the adoption committee will need to formulate the best final selection at the conclusion of the work. For a competitive adoption process of core instructional materials, there may be multiple stages of review to narrow the selection from the original options to a smaller number of instructional materials for consideration. However, where a narrowing of options is not necessary, such as in the case of district-created instructional materials, the adoption committee’s timeline will be shortened and focus on ensuring the instructional materials meet the standards detailed in their selection criteria.  

The adoption timeline will be posted on the Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction webpage, a webpage devoted to the adoption, and/or through any other method identified in the committee’s engagement plan.

Step 3—Consultation with the Purchasing Department

For an adoption of instructional materials from commercial sources, the Adoption Coordinator will work closely with the district Purchasing Department to integrate Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) processes and acquisition and management of instructional material submissions into the adoption timeline. The Purchasing Department familiarizes the Adoption Coordinator with the procurement guidelines the adoption committee will follow in their evaluation process. As well, the Adoption Coordinator should receive guidelines to ensure a fair, unbiased and competitive process of evaluating materials. After cost information is received from the RFI and RFP processes, a meeting is to take place between the Adoption Coordinator and the Business & Finance Department to ensure that there is adequate budget capacity for the adoption, including accounting for on-going annual expenses.

Step 4—Checking for Accessibility

The Adoption Coordinator and/or the Purchasing Department will work with the Department of Technology Services (DoTS) to assess Americans with Disabilities Act compliance of all instructional materials to be presented to the adoption committee for evaluation. All instructional materials moved forward to the adoption committee will be compliant or have a clear and timely plan for achieving compliance in accessibility.

Step 5—Adoption Committee Engagement Plan

The Adoption Coordinator will write a community/staff engagement plan regarding the adoption to ensure that the community, district staff, and School Board are afforded opportunities to review and provide feedback on the instructional materials being considered for adoption.

1. Textual Review – Instructional Materials will be available for review at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence and three schools selected by the adoption committee. The district will pay for any materials not provided by the vendor. Any digital materials will be posted on the adoption’s webpage.
2. Feedback Solicitation – Feedback regarding the instructional materials will be solicited through a variety of methods including, but not limited to: collecting feedback through district/school websites, hosting open houses, and placing comment cards in every school where adopted materials are used.
3. School Board Update – The Adoption Coordinator will gather feedback received and provide an update to the Student Services, Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee. 

The adoption committee will submit the engagement plan to the IMC for approval. Feedback received through engagement processes will inform the adoption committee’s work and be reflected in their final selection. A summary of feedback received will also be provided to the School Board to help guide their decision-making. 

Step 6— Anti-Bias/Racial Equity Training

The Board has approved standards intended to establish a foundation for equity within district instruction. The standards detail several evaluative requirements regarding equity including accessibility, reflection of diversity, the presentation of differing viewpoints, the elimination of bias, and positive representation. The Adoption Coordinator is responsible for providing sufficient racial equity training to committee members so their evaluative work will effectively address these standards, in addition to drawing on each member’s expertise in the subject area and/or perspectives of family members with current and/or past students in the grades the adoption is being contemplated.

To ensure each adoption committee is prepared to enter their evaluative work with a clear understanding of the role instructional materials have in advancing equity within the district, at a minimum, each adoption committee will review Board Policy No. 0030, Ensuring Educational and Racial Equity, and will receive an anti-bias orientation and training that includes the use of relevant instruments such as the Racial Equity Analysis Tool or its successor to assist in the identification of bias.

Note that as a general rule, instructional materials containing instruction of bias to cover a learning standard do not conflict with the requirement that all district instructional materials must be free from bias. When bias is instructed appropriately, biased exemplars do not contradict the standard because the education will identify and correct the bias contained in the exemplar thus making them free from bias. 

Step 7 – Selection Criteria Development

The adoption committee will develop selection criteria using the standards outlined in Board Policy No. 2015 and any additional standards dictated by the IMC and/or School Board. The adoption committee will submit their selection criteria to the IMC for review and approval prior to beginning their evaluative work. The Adoption Coordinator will ensure that a thorough process of instructional materials evaluation takes place to determine a final selection that meets all the required standards.

Step 8—Field Testing

An adoption committee may decide that in order to make an informed selection, a field test (also known as a “pilot”) should be conducted for materials under serious consideration. The decision of the adoption committee to conduct field testing must be approved by the IMC and follow the field-testing requirements of this procedure.

Step 9—Final Selection and Approval

The Adoption Coordinator will submit the adoption committee’s final selection to the IMC. The IMC shall review the final selection and the proceedings of the adoption committee to confirm that the required processes in policy, procedure, and law were followed. The IMC’s confirmation is their certification of the committee’s work. Once the IMC confirms/certifies the work of the adoption committee, they will then vote on the final selection to determine a recommendation for the adoption of instructional materials and forward their recommendation to the Superintendent. 

After the Superintendent receives the IMC’s recommendation, the Purchasing Department will engage in negotiations with the selected vendor (if applicable) and final budget figures will be identified. The recommendation provided to the School Board for approval or disapproval will include a fiscal assessment including the procurement and on-going cost of the adoption (i.e., consumables and professional development costs).

Once the fiscal assessment is complete, the Superintendent will provide the IMC’s recommendation in a Board Action Report to the Student Services, Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee for the committee’s review and recommendation to the School Board as a whole. Per Board Policy No. 2015 and state law, the School Board may either approve or disapprove the recommendation. The adoption committee’s report and the instructional materials being recommended by the IMC will be made available to the School Board for review. If the recommendation is approved per the adoption timeline, the materials must be purchased in a timely manner so they will be ready for the next school year without delay.

Implementation of Core Instructional Materials Adoptions

When core instructional materials are adopted by the School Board, the adoption is announced via the district website, formal press release, and through any other method defined in the engagement plan. 

A professional development plan for all adoptions is required and must be built into adoption budgets. The Adoption Coordinator will provide information regarding professional development for the new instructional materials to involved staff.

The Adoption Coordinator will create a plan for principals suggesting ways to include implementation within a school’s annual planning process.

The Adoption Coordinator, in collaboration with the leaders of the Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction Department, will create an evaluation plan to measure the impact of core instructional materials on student learning.

Alternative Processes

Field Testing

State law and Board Policy 2015 permits the district to use and experiment with instructional materials for a period of time before an adoption is formalized. This use and experimentation of instructional materials for a short period of time, usually a semester or an academic year, is called a field test or pilot. Field testing can occur as the result of an adoption committee’s decision that it is needed to make an informed decision. Field testing may also occur absent an adoption committee for various reasons at the direction of a Chief Academic Officer, Executive Director of Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction, or equivalent. For example, a field test could be directed in a situation of an unanticipated emergent situation of rapidly changing circumstances or deviant needs, in the case of new course development, and other various situations determined to be reasonable and appropriate. 

Field testing should focus on collecting evidence to evaluate the instructional materials on the selection criteria developed by the adoption committee and/or the required standards indicated in Board Policy No. 2015. The length of the field test, breadth of participating schools, and diversity of school populations should also be considered in planning a field test. The field test must be long enough to give teachers an opportunity to understand the instructional materials.

Extended Core Instructional Materials

The need for extended core instructional materials may come about because the district identifies a gap in adopted materials of unfulfilled learning standards or unfulfilled district goals. When such a gap is identified, the district will convene an adoption committee to recommend extended core instructional materials. The materials may be created by the district or identified from external sources.

The adoption of extended core instructional materials may take place in two ways:

1. Selection through a competitive process from commercial and non-commercial sources as outlined in the above sections, or
2. Selection from materials designated for adoption from non-commercial sources in a non-competitive fashion; as for example, materials created by the district, articles or materials from district-subscribed resources, a government or nonprofit agency, or made available by a government agency in support of a regulation or other mandate. 

In either case, the process for adoption must be approved by the Instructional Materials Committee and may differ from the process detailed in the adoption committee Responsibilities section of this procedure.

For the non-competitive process of approval of extended core instructional materials developed by the district or a governmental entity to fulfill a designated need or mandate, the review may be limited to one step, evaluation against the selection criteria developed by an adoption committee. Even if there is only one stage of review, the materials will only be moved forward for Board approval if they satisfy the required standards in Board Policy No. 2015 and pass the district review for accessibility. A field test may also be conducted as a second step. If the instructional materials pass the adoption committee’s evaluative process and are determined to be their final selection, the selection will be submitted to the Instructional Materials Committee for consideration. If the IMC’s vote determines the final selection to be their recommendation for adoption, it will then be provided to the School Board to approve or disapprove via a Board Action Report from the Superintendent.

An adoption committee considering extended core instructional materials may make a distinction between required material designated for classroom use by teachers that provides core instruction and additional support materials. Additional support materials may be replaced by supplementary instructional materials as defined by Superintendent Procedure 2015SP.C. However, the supplementary instructional materials must align with learning standards taught by the extended core instructional materials.

Adoption for Courses Involving Fewer than 1,000 Students

Per Board Policy No. 2015, the IMC is authorized to approve a revision in process in the case of instructional materials adoption for courses with total district enrollment of fewer than 1,000 students. For this revised process, the IMC may:

• Authorize curriculum administrators to confirm the instructional materials satisfy the required standards in Board Policy No. 2015 and pass the district review for accessibility. Once these requirements are confirmed by the curriculum administrators, the IMC will then certify and vote on a recommendation for adoption of instructional materials to be provided to the Board to approve or disapprove; OR
• Direct that an adoption committee is formed, with a condensed timeline focused on ensuring the materials satisfy the required standards in Board Policy No. 2015 and pass the district review for accessibility. Once the IMC-directed process is completed, the adoption committee will provide their final selection to the IMC who will then certify the directed process was followed by the adoption committee and vote on a recommendation for adoption of instructional materials.  The recommendation of the IMC will be provided to the Board to approve or disapprove. 

New Editions/Versions of Adopted Instructional Materials

When a new edition/version of an adopted core or extended core instructional material is published, the appropriate curriculum administrator may request approval from the IMC to recommend purchase of the new edition/version rather than conduct an adoption process if there are compelling reasons; for example, in cases where the adopted edition/version is no longer available and the next adoption for the subject is several years away. The IMC will grant the approval of the acquisition if the materials satisfy the required standards in Board Policy No. 2015 and pass the district review for accessibility.

Provision of Core Instructional Materials

Initial copies of instructional materials will be provided or loaned to students free of charge. Students are required to exercise reasonable care in the use of such materials.

Based on the judgment of an Executive Director of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction, or equivalent position, materials replaced by the new adoption will either be moved from buildings to surplus or used as supplemental instructional materials. Surplus instructional materials not utilized shall be disposed of according to law.

In accordance with Board Policy 2015, the Superintendent may purchase instructional materials in an unanticipated emergent situation of rapidly changing circumstances or deviant needs.

Superintendent Procedure Cross References

• 2015SP.A – Instructional Materials Complaint
• 2015SP.C – Approval of Supplementary Instructional Materials

Policy Cross References

• 2015 – Selection and Adoption of Instructional Materials

Revisions

• February 2021
• January 2020
• August 2015
• March 2012
• December 2011

Approved by the Board

• December 2011