Instruction
f feature
High-Quality
Initiative Closing Student Gaps Through Better Materials Brock Turnipseed.
T
he Mississippi Department
outcomes and offer equitable access
of Education (MDE) recently
for all of the state’s students.
The gateways started with standards alignment and progressed
partnered with seven other
With the HQIM definition and goals
to building knowledge followed by
states in the Council of Chief State
in place, the group collaborated with
usability. Priority indicators were
School Officers Instructional Materials
Student Achievement Partners, a non-
included in each gateway, including
and Professional Development
profit group dedicated to improving lit-
a set of Mississippi-specific criteria
Network to develop a high-quality
eracy and mathematics achievements
under the first gateway.
instructional materials (HQIM) initia-
in K-12 students, and EdReports,
tive that aligns to Mississippi’s College-
another nonprofit that works with
and Career-Readiness Standards and
educators to identify HQIM, to develop
we wanted to ensure English language
will help the state continue producing
a rubric that progresses sequentially
arts materials provide all students
tremendous gains in education.
through three gateways aligned to
access to complex texts and build
meet the content standards and other
and expand upon on their knowledge
indicators of high-quality curriculum
of the world,” said Kristen Wynn, the
as recommended by educators.
MDE’s state literacy director.
“We recognized that this is our next big push for providing equitable access
“As we worked to develop the rubric,
to materials for all children across the state,” said Dr. Tenette Smith, executive director of the MDE Office of Elementary Education and Reading. Smith and other MDE leadership met with Dr. David Steiner, the executive director of the Institute for Education Policy and a professor of education at Johns Hopkins University, and Rebecca Kockler, the former assistant superintendent of academic content at the Louisiana Department of Education, to begin
Packaged textbooks are pictured in a warehouse of The School Book Supply Company
crafting Mississippi’s HQIM definition
of Mississippi. The company has played an important part in the MDE’s high-quality
and developing a plan to increase
instructional materials review process, efficiently delivering the submitted materials to
teacher capacity, improve student
the review team members at their homes or their schools.
School Focus
28
Winter 2021
