(This is the fifth essential component of a CCIAP.)

Many schools and school districts adopt instructional materials that do not support their CCIAP vision, content standards, goals, or instruction. Others use instructional materials to define the school’s CCIAP. Neither practice supports high student achievement. In developing a CCIAP, the last decision should be about the instructional materials to be used.

Before instructional materials are selected, effective instructional strategies that support student achievement must be identified, understood, and implemented by all teachers. Teachers must be comfortable with them, and this is achieved through continuous use and professional development.

Since the teacher is the primary user of the instructional materials, and the student has the most to gain or lose from their selection, teachers should make the final decision on what instructional materials should be used.

Instructional materials should be comprehensive but not prescriptive.

The content of instructional materials should be extensively reviewed by school staff for accuracy, consistency with standards, having the potential to meet the needs of all the learners for whom it is intended, and developmental appropriateness.

The school’s vision, goals, content standards, curriculum framework and instructional strategies should drive the selection of instructional materials.

The materials should support the use of effective instructional strategies. The instructional strategies used consistently should be supported by research about learning and provide opportunities for students to attain the specific outcomes identified in the school’s curriculum framework.

The design of instructional materials should provide flexibility in their use and should provide alternatives to address students’ individual differences.

Instructional materials should provide guidance for teachers to make informed decisions about how they should be used.

The assessments that accompany the materials should be aligned with the content standards, support different learning styles and how students demonstrate what they have learned, and should reflect the level of understanding or skill outlined in the curriculum framework.

The support supplements for the teacher should include references to research and evaluated resources.

There should be evidence from field trials that students can learn the specified content and skills if the materials are used as intended.