Teachers and staff from Fresno County attend a training to help select new math instructional materials that will also support English learners.
Credit: Courtesy of Fresno County Superintendent of Schools
For too long, California’s English learners — and the teachers guiding their education — have had to adapt to math curricula and textbooks that were not created with them in mind.
Here in Fresno, we knew this needed to change.
When California’s State Board of Education revised the state’s math framework in 2023, it elevated the needs of English learners in the upcoming statewide adoption of math curricula. The revised framework features a chapter on “Teaching for Equity and Engagement” and details best practices for supporting English learners, including using an asset-based approach that focuses on students’ strengths, intentional language supports, and creating more opportunities for classroom discourse.
This represents a once-in-a-decade opportunity to help ensure that education leaders across the state are equipped to select high-quality materials that truly support all students in their districts. But, while the state’s new math framework requires districts to adopt evidence-based materials that reflect the needs of English learners, there isn’t a lot of guidance available to help district leaders identify and implement materials that align with the updated framework.
The state board recently released its list of state-approved math curricula. With more than 60 approved materials, it’s a promising starting point. But strong expectations for high-quality materials only matter if district leaders know how to assess whether curricula truly meet their district’s needs, particularly for English learners.
This adoption cycle has forced many at the district level to confront an uncomfortable truth: Our traditional approach for evaluating and selecting math curricula isn’t working. It isn’t working for our teachers, and it isn’t working for our growing English learner population.
Earlier adoption cycles prioritized content alignment, with limited attention to English learners from the outset. For this new curriculum adoption, Fresno County teachers were not yet equipped to identify, out of the many choices available, which high-quality materials — integrating meaningful language supports alongside rigorous math content — would best help ensure that content and language were learned side by side.
In our programming and professional development work with Fresno County’s 31 school districts, we have seen and heard the consequences of curriculum misalignment firsthand. Teachers often tell us they don’t trust their current curriculum because the materials feel disconnected from what research says English learners need to thrive. Across the county, more than 34,000 English learners — about 17% of our total enrollment — deserve a more engaging and impactful classroom experience as they navigate their math lessons.
We also had to acknowledge what we didn’t know. Our county STEM team had never led a district through a comprehensive math adoption process. But Fresno was ready to move beyond the standard and explore curriculum that lets English learners learn and practice math on an equal playing field, so we reached out for partners with experience in this area.
UnboundEd offered support on strengthening curriculum adoption processes, including how to review instructional materials for standards alignment and for their capacity to promote equitable, rigorous learning. The English Learners Success Forum (ELSF) contributed expertise to ensure English learners were accounted for throughout the process by demonstrating how to examine materials for appropriate language supports and accessibility. Together, these partnerships helped our districts use a clear, research-informed approach grounded in our instructional vision.
District leaders typically do not have the capacity to dig too deeply into curriculum adoption, which is why we were excited to host representatives from 18 of Fresno County’s school districts — along with some folks from Madera and Kings counties — for the training. Out of those who attended, 96% said the content helped them understand what materials that support English learners should look like. For instance, teacher materials should provide guidance on creating assessments that go beyond testing math skills and also measure how students are using language to express mathematical thinking.
Research backs up what we’ve seen locally: teachers are forced to supplement weak materials to effectively engage English learners in their classrooms. A nationwide survey of teachers revealed that only 30% feel fully prepared to teach English learners, while a majority (64%) feel that they can’t rely on their instructional materials for support in working with English learners.
A key part of this effort has been empowering teachers. During the previous adoption cycle in 2013, teachers had little voice. Decisions were made quickly and without meaningful engagement, usually taking 30 minutes and consisting of a simple vote. This time around, we knew we needed to do things differently so we could adhere to our state’s new framework, and because we owe it to both our teachers and our growing English learner population to get this right.
California has given us the tools with the updated math framework. Now it’s up to school districts like ours to act. Will we settle for “good enough,” or will we demand materials that help every student, including our growing population of English learners, thrive?
For us in Fresno County, we took two critical steps. First, it was essential to make sure English learners were clearly included in our vision from the beginning. And, second, we needed to understand and identify what quality math materials that would support and include English learners, looked like.
Through our training sessions in Fresno, district leaders learned to define their beliefs about how all students should learn mathematics before proceeding to look at materials. More importantly, they came to see the adoption process as a reflection of their values, not just a purchasing decision.
This is our moment to choose materials that let our English learners know they belong in math and that we, as educators, will work to ensure they have the opportunity to succeed.
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Meagan Thompson is the math coordinator (STEM) for the Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools.
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