We sit at the heart of what’s now known as the high-quality curriculum movement. As part of that movement, we believe that knowledge-building should start at the outset of a student’s education—there’s no reason to wait. To do that, we need to equip educators with what they need to take students beyond rote learning and provide a deeper, more complete understanding of mathematics, science, and the humanities. Students need a high-quality curriculum written for teachers, by teachers. Here are three more reasons to advocate for a high-quality curriculum in your schools.
Reason #1: Offering Anything Less Would be a Disservice
For years, students lacked opportunities to build knowledge while learning skills. But educators are no longer faced with the either/or option. With the innovative curriculum available today, they can have both: content that increases knowledge and vocabulary and reading and writing skills; teaching techniques that go beyond math literacy to teach math fluency. With such resources available, it’s time to provide what research shows students need—and to use precious instructional minutes judiciously, building knowledge while teaching foundational skills. Our students deserve nothing less.
Reason #2: Independent Organizations Agree
Our highly regarded curricula and resources continue to be unrivaled in a difficult and saturated market. In fact, Great Minds is the only organization with exemplary reviews for both ELA and math curricula from EdReports.org: Eureka Math®, previously known as EngageNY Math, is one of the few curricula to receive “green lights” for all grades, while Wit & Wisdom® was awarded perfect scores for all reviewed materials, including the highest scores for “Text Quality” of all reviewed materials. Wit & Wisdom®, along with Eureka Math® and PhD Science™, also earned a Tier 1 ranking for Grades K–8 by the Louisiana Department of Education—known for its rigorous review—in 2017. This is after the Louisiana and Tennessee education departments gave Eureka Math their highest rating, and EQulP gave top marks to a Wit & Wisdom® module. PhD Science™ has been piloted in more than 900 classrooms.
Reason #3: The Results Speak for Themselves
In New York state, schools saw nearly five-point gains in math—in one year—in grades 3–8 while using Eureka Math. One school district even saw a 10-point jump in end-of-year math scores. In Philadelphia, after James R. Lowell Elementary School’s adoption of Wit & Wisdom, the percentage of students reading on grade level increased 16 points from September to January—almost double the school’s end-of-year goal of nine-point growth. In Santa Ana, California, Scholarship Prep Charter School students soared to the highest year-to-year gains in the state with Eureka Math and Wit & Wisdom. And these are just a few examples from many successful case studies.
Your students, and the educators inspiring those students to be great, deserve the best curriculum and learning materials available. If you want to kick off the school year with a high-quality curriculum, contact Great Minds today!
Are you ready to take the next step? Contact us to get started today.
