Every student, every day, is engaged in meaningful, affirming, grade-level instruction.
In Oregon, districts adopt high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) to provide a critical foundation for high-quality instruction. HQIM are evidence-based curricular materials that help teachers effectively teach grade-level standards and center students in the learning process. When paired with intentionally designed professional learning and system-level supports, HQIM promote instructional coherence by ensuring consistency across content area standards, materials, and teaching practices, helping teachers deliver meaningful, affirming, grade-level learning experiences for all students.
High-Quality Instructional Materials Benefit Teachers and Students
HQIM are essential for ensuring equitable and enduring learning experiences for every Oregon student. HQIM create coherence in learning, reduce the burden on teachers to curate or develop their own materials, and ensure that content is accessible, culturally and linguistically responsive, and aligned to Oregon’s grade-level standards.
Teaching is complex. Oregon teachers deserve HQIM and implementation support so they can spend less time recreating what already exists and more time improving instruction, personalizing learning, integrating disciplines, and creating meaningful, future-focused learning experiences for every student.
Imagine if...
- ...every student had learning experiences that were scaffolded and coherent across grades, classrooms, and content areas.
- ...all students, including those who start below grade level and those who are historically underserved, made academic gains each school year.
- ...we maintained high expectations for all students, including multilingual learners and students with disabilities, by aligning their learning experiences and tiered supports to the same grade-level core instruction as their peers.
Learning is complex. Oregon students deserve HQIM that provide clear, coherent, and engaging learning experiences, enabling them to focus on building knowledge and achieving their full potential.
Imagine if...
- ...teachers no longer had to work in isolation to develop curriculum independently.
- ...from day one of the new school year, every teacher had access to HQIM and knew how to use the materials with integrity.
- ...every district could access curriculum-based professional learning, build collaborative teams, and create coherent systems of support to strengthen HQIM implementation.
- ...ESDs, districts, and schools worked in partnership to improve HQIM implementation, provide teacher support, and advance student achievement.
What Makes Instructional Materials High-Quality
Oregon teachers and students deserve HQIM that align with the latest research and are designed to deliver engaging instruction to teach grade-level standards.
| Standards-Aligned and Coherent | Designed to ensure teaching, learning, and assessment address the knowledge and skills identified in Oregon’s content standards. Materials are organized around a clear scope and sequence, include lessons to teach skills that connect and build on each other, and promote alignment across classrooms and grade bands. |
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| Grade-Level and Engaging | Appropriately challenging for each grade, while keeping students interested and involved in learning. |
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| Culturally Responsive and Inclusive | Student-centered, incorporate and affirm students' backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences, and are accessible to students with varied learning needs, including multilingual learners, talented and gifted students, and students with disabilities. |
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| Evaluated by Experts | Grounded in research, use evidence-based teaching strategies, and are carefully evaluated by educators and content area experts to confirm alignment to Oregon’s quality standards and adoption criteria. |
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| Comprehensive | Designed to be used as the principal source of instruction to teach a full course of study and include a suite of materials to support teacher implementation, such as detailed lesson plans, formative and summative assessments, pacing guides, scaffolds and differentiation guides, teacher manuals, and supplemental materials. |
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| Adaptable and Teacher Friendly | Easy to use with integrity and provide options for teaching grade-level content to a wide variety of students, enabling teachers to focus their expertise on adapting materials to their students’ learning needs. |
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How Do Oregon School Districts Select HQIM
High-quality instruction starts with the district adoption process. Oregon requires all public school districts to adopt HQIM that are grade-level, research-based, and aligned to Oregon content standards. Districts may 1) adopt materials from the state HQIM list, or 2) use state-adopted criteria to evaluate and adopt materials independently at the local level.
The State Board of Education adopted the 2027-2035 Oregon High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) Adoption Schedule on October 15, 2026.