Curriculum Materials and Resources
Materials embody choices about voice, difficulty, access, privacy, and agency. Selection is therefore a professional judgment, not a shopping decision.
The official Element
Element 3E: Teachers select, use, and adapt standards-aligned instructional materials, evidence-based resources, and varied technologies to increase content and social–emotional learning options that are accessible, equitable, and culturally responsive and sustaining for each student.
What this Element asks of an educator
Materials embody choices about voice, difficulty, access, privacy, and agency. Selection is therefore a professional judgment, not a shopping decision.
Read together, these indicators ask educators to make curriculum materials and resources visible in planning, teaching, student experience, and follow-through. The aim is not to display every indicator in every lesson, but to understand the full range of the Element and select a focused practice to develop with evidence.
Official Example Indicators—and an SDLA reading
The Commission presents Example Indicators as illustrations rather than a comprehensive or required checklist. Their sequence shows the breadth of this Element and gives teachers, mentors, and coaches a shared language for focused development.
Employ the full range of materials
Official indicator: Employ the full range of materials, resources, and technologies provided by the school and the district to support students in meeting individual and collective learning goals.
Select and use materials and tools that are needed…
Official indicator: Select and use materials and tools that are needed for effective in-person and remote learning experiences.
Use specific materials
Official indicator: Use specific materials, resources, and technologies to support differentiated student learning of the subject matter content and skills.
Use learning materials and resources that reflect diverse cultures
Official indicator: Use learning materials and resources that reflect diverse cultures, races/ethnicities, and languages to support socially and emotionally relevant subject matter content and skills.
Review materials and resources for bias and thoughtfully consider…
Official indicator: Review materials and resources for bias and thoughtfully consider whether they are appropriate for learning experiences directed toward meeting intended content and equity outcomes.
Developing the practice
Clarify the disciplinary purpose
Name the important idea, practice, misconception, and kind of thinking students must develop.
Build meaningful access
Use accurate representations, culturally relevant contexts, and responsive supports while preserving the intellectual destination.
Review resources critically
Examine alignment, representation, accessibility, bias, privacy, and the work students—not the tool—will do.
Evidence worth noticing
- curriculum or lesson annotations showing concepts, practices, representations, and anticipated misconceptions
- student explanations that connect or transfer disciplinary ideas
- material-review notes addressing alignment, access, representation, bias, and technology governance
- work samples showing how supports preserve rather than replace the target learning
Evidence caution: No single artifact proves accomplished practice. Interpret evidence in context, center student experience and learning, use multiple sources, and avoid collecting identifiable information that is not necessary.
A pinch of data integration and digital learning
Digital systems can organize information, improve access, coordinate work, or shorten a feedback loop. They are valuable only when the educator can explain the human decision they support, the information they require, and how privacy, accessibility, equity, and professional responsibility are protected.
California student data privacy laws
Add privacy and governance to instructional-material and technology selection.
Questions for reflection and coaching
- Where is curriculum materials and resources already visible in my practice, and what evidence supports that judgment?
- Which students experience the current approach differently from the way I intend?
- Which official indicator names the most important next area for growth?
- What is one affordable, manageable adjustment I can test, and what will I look for afterward?
- Whose perspective—student, family, colleague, specialist, or community partner—would improve the next decision?