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CUrriculum RAtings by TEachers (CURATE): Our Process

Interested in a CURATE Review?

If you are a publisher seeking to have your product reviewed by CURATE, please submit your official bid through our COMMBUYS system, the official procurement record system for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. To learn more about COMMBUYS, please visit COMMBUYS.

For SY22-23, CURATE will be prioritizing the following grade bands and content areas:

  • 9–12 ELA/literacy,
  • K–12 for Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DLCS),
  • K–8 Science, Technology, and Engineering (STE), and
  • K–5 ELA/literacy.

For SY23-24, CURATE anticipates prioritizing:

  • K–5 ELA,
  • K–12 DLCS,
  • K–8 Mathematics, and
  • K–5, Grade 8, and 9–12 History and Social Science (HSS)

All content areas and grade bands are subject to change based upon internal DESE priorities and capacity. CURATE accepts all submissions from publishers on a rolling basis via COMMBUYS above.

HSS Update:

CURATE panels only review products that have already been found by an independent evaluation process to be partially or fully aligned to college- and-career ready standards. For HSS, the Rennie Center has been selected as our vendor to conduct this gateway evaluation. We are planning for a Fall 2023 CURATE panel for Grades K–5, Grade 8, and Grades 9–12 HSS core curricular materials, as well as supplemental resources focused on the student-led civics project, media literacy, culturally responsive instruction in Grade 8 and any supplemental resources for high school.

If you would like to be included in the Rennie Center's curriculum review as a gateway into CURATE, please contact the Rennie Center at abuzaid@renniecenter.org

CUrriculum RAtings by TEachers (CURATE) 1. PUBLISHER REQUESTS REVIEW CURATE begins when a publisher submits their curricular materials to DESE for review. The submission includes responses to specific prompts related to program features and design, efforts to represent diversity, sample materials, and any available evidence of quality. 2. DESE GATHERS EVIDENCE CURATE relies on three main sources of evidence: 1. A comprehensive review of the materials' alignment to college- and career-ready standards, usually from EdReports. 2. Feedback from Massachusetts educators who use the materials, usually in the form of survey data and focus group transcripts. 3. Information submitted directly by the publisher, including sample materials. 3. CURATE FELLOWS DELIBERATE CURATE Fellows are current Massachusetts teachers. They review the available evidence independently and then come together as a panel to reach consensus using the CURATE rubric (http://www.doe.mass.edu/instruction/curate/resources.html). Fellows document the specific evidence they use to rate each indicator of the rubric. This step often involves requesting additional information from publishers and teachers using the materials. 4. DRAFT REPORT IS ASSEMBLED Developing a draft CURATE report is a group effort between CURATE Fellows, DESE, and the Rennie Center. The Rennie Center compiles fellows' evidence into the report template. DESE reviews for consistency and completeness. Fellows then review to make sure the draft accurately reflects their conversations and conclusions. 5. PUBLISHER RESPONDS Once the CURATE Fellows sign off on the draft report, DESE shares it with the publisher. This step serves two purposes: (1) it ensures that factual inaccuracies about the materials are addressed before the report is publicly released and (2) it gives publishers time to prepare a written response to the report that is included with it upon release. 6. CURATE REPORT FINALIZED After the publisher responds, DESE sometimes needs to reconvene the CURATE panel to determine whether changes to the report are necessary. Once the CURATE Fellows confirm the report is final, it is released on the DESE website (http://www.doe.mass.edu/instruction/curate/) to help districts make great decisions about curricular materials. BY TEACHERS, FOR STUDENTS LEARN MORE ABOUT HIGH-QUALITY CURRICULAR MATERIALS Go to www.doe.mass.edu/candi/curate/

Last Updated: March 2, 2023

 
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