In a study of 15 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states, researchers at SREB identified the degree to which the South Carolina Department of Education provided leadership and support for the statewide use of high-quality instructional materials that aligned to the state’s K-12 college- and career-readiness standards in English language arts (ELA) and math.

SREB developed a list of actions that demonstrate state leadership and support in each of the three areas listed below. These actions, or “look-fors,” guided data collection and the analysis of state efforts. Read about the look-fors in the full report, located to the right. State efforts in each area fell into one of three levels of implementation: minimal, essential or strong. In some cases, SREB researchers also designated a state action as notable. Below is a detailed description of this state’s efforts.

Table of Contents

Highlights	Area 1	Area 2	Area 3	Moving Forward

Highlights from South Carolina

• Notable adoption of formative assessments at the state level to support local selection of high-quality classroom assessments aligned to state college- and career-readiness standards.
• Growing repositories of guidance and instructional materials to enhance local efforts to learn about, design and deliver instruction on the state’s new standards—the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards—which educators began implementing in 2015-16.
• Notable plans to provide significant, additional supports for local materials alignment efforts in 2016-17, including instructional materials such as model unit plans for K-12 in ELA, science and social studies, a protocol to evaluate professional learning and support services for educators.

Area 1: Establishing Clear Conventions

Did the department establish clear criteria and a clear process for identifying high-quality instructional materials aligned to the state’s college- and career-readiness standards?

South Carolina provided essential leadership and support in this area.

The department developed several sets of criteria to assess the quality and alignment of instructional materials to college- and career-readiness standards in 2014-15—one set for textbooks, one set for formative assessments and one set for the online, on-demand instructional materials that the department offered. State legislation in 2014 required the department to develop the new South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards, which educators began implementing in 2015-16. With the adoption of the new standards in spring of 2015, the department was tasked with developing resources for educators. In 2015-16, the department began developing tools, resources and materials to provide educators with clear criteria for identifying and developing instructional materials aligned to the standards. The department established a clear process that involved educators for annually developing and reviewing the online, on-demand materials it offered.  

Table 1: State Criteria and Processes for Reviewing Textbooks and Online, On-Demand Instructional Materials

State authority and role in developing and selecting instructional materials	Criteria the state used to develop and select materials	Process the state used to develop and select materials
Textbooks
In accordance with state law: The state board of education was required to adopt recommended textbooks. Schools could use state funding to select items from the board-adopted list. They could use other funds to select items not on the list.	Department content specialists developed review criteria. The department provided these criteria and additional instructions to Instructional Materials Review Panels.	Instructional Materials Review Panels, made up of educators and members of the public appointed by the state board of education, were responsible for reviewing and recommending items for adoption by the board. The department could provide an orientation meeting for the panels. Textbooks were adopted every six years. ELA and math textbooks were most recently funded for local selection in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
In accordance with state law: The board adopted formative assessments that districts could purchase.	The department worked with the state Education Oversight Committee to develop criteria for assessing items for validity and reliability. District curriculum specialists developed criteria for assessing items for alignment to college- and career-readiness standards.	A panel of measurement experts and committees of district curriculum specialists reviewed items developed by vendors. Adopted every seven years, formative assessments were most recently adopted in 2015-16.
Online, On-Demand Instructional Materials
The department provided a collection of model unit plans for math in grades K-12. Educators could use these items to inform their planning.	Department content specialists developed criteria to guide the evaluation of quality and alignment of items to college- and career-readiness standards.	The department collaborated with South Carolina educators to develop the unit plans. The department published the plans in 2015 and 2016.
In 2016, the department began work on new collections of model unit plans for K-12 in ELA, as well as science and social studies. The department reported plans to make the units available in 2016-17. Read more about this effort in “Instructional Materials” below.	In 2016, the department began work, using national research from Heidi Hayes Jacobs and Curriculum 21, to develop a standardized format for instructional units including criteria for standards alignment.	In 2016, the department began collaborating with selected expert South Carolina educators, to develop the new model units.

Area 2: Supporting Local Efforts

Did the department provide guidance, instructional materials, professional learning and technical assistance to build local knowledge and skills, and support educator use of aligned materials?

South Carolina provided essential leadership and support in this area.

The department provided several types of guidance and instructional materials for on-demand access by educators. It offered several types of professional learning and technical assistance to districts, schools and educators, though participation varied across the state. Notably, in 2016, the department reported plans to provide multiple, additional types of professional learning services in 2016-17, to support implementation of the College- and Career-Ready Standards. Examples of the department’s efforts include the following.  

Guidance

Guidance could include information about the standards and aligned teaching strategies, rubrics for gauging alignment of instructional materials, templates for designing aligned instruction, lists of adopted textbooks and online professional learning resources. South Carolina provided the following guidance documents.

• List of board-adopted textbooks and formative assessments, as well as archived webinars on board-adopted items
• ELA and math support documents, including information about the standards and student skills by grade level; explication of content progressions across grade levels; and crosswalks between the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards and the previous state standards
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Implementation Continuum to support the integration of ELA and math standards into STEM and STEAM instruction
• etvStreamlineSC collection of professional learning courses on using aligned curriculum, provided in partnership with South Carolina Public Broadcasting

Instructional Materials

Instructional materials could include a variety of tools and resources that educators use to plan and deliver instruction, such as model lesson and unit plans, sample formative assessments, textbooks, student workbooks and manipulatives, recommended texts and videos, and multimedia learning tools. South Carolina provided the following types of instructional materials.

• Math Support Documents and Resources collection of model unit plans for math grades K-12, suggested instructional strategies, sample formative assessment tasks and hyperlinks to digital resources
• ELA Support Documents and Resources collection of hyperlinks to various recommended tools from external organizations
• In 2016, the department began developing new unit plans for K-12 in ELA as well as science and social studies, to include targeted standards and student performance indicators, references to prior and subsequent knowledge, sample lessons and instructional strategies, sample formative assessment tools and other related resources. The department reported plans to release the units in 2016-17.

Professional Learning and Technical Assistance

• Literacy Design Collaborative and Mathematics Design Collaborative training for educators in the state’s lowest-performing schools, provided in 2015-16 in partnership with SREB
• Regular meetings with district content area supervisors to provide support for district textbook adoption processes
• Annual, weeklong Research to Practice Institutes, including professional learning sessions for educators of general, special and gifted students on aligning instructional materials and individual education plans to state standards
• In 2016, the department began planning multiple, additional types of professional learning opportunities for 2016-17 to support implementation of the College- and Career-Ready Standards. The department based these plans on the Learning Forward Standards for Professional Learning, designing them to provide educators with support over time as part of their regular work, and to enable the department to measure participant satisfaction and learning.
• In 2016, the department reported plans to meet monthly, beginning in 2016-17, with district content area supervisors to provide support for standards implementation and district textbook adoption processes.

Area 3: Using Data to Continuously Improve State Efforts

Did the department regularly gather and use multiple types of data in order to continuously improve its leadership and support for the statewide alignment of instructional materials to college- and career-readiness standards?

South Carolina provided essential leadership and support in this area.

The department gathered two of the five types of data that SREB deemed key for state leadership. Leaders and staff from across the agency participated in analysis and discussion of the data. The department used the data in two ways to inform its work. Notably, in 2016, the department reported plans to use multiple, additional types of data to strengthen state efforts in 2016-17 and beyond.

Table 2: Data the Department Gathered to Inform its Efforts

Key types of data	Data sources
Educator use of state guidance and instructional materials, and educator participation in the professional learning and technical assistance the department offered	None reported in 2014-15 and 2015-16 In 2016, the department reported plans to analyze the following additional types of data in 2016-17: feedback gathered during meetings with content-area stakeholder groups and district leaders; participation tallies from professional learning activities; and feedback from online resource users and professional learning event attendees
Educator perceptions of the quality of the state’s offerings	None reported in 2014-15 and 2015-16 In 2016, the department reported plans to administer satisfaction surveys to professional learning event participants in 2016-17
Educator emerging needs	March 2015 statewide district needs assessment Input from partners and educators In 2016, the department reported plans to analyze statewide formative and assessment data in 2016-17
Impact of state offerings on measurable teacher or student outcomes	None reported in 2014-15 and 2015-16 In 2016, the department reported plans to analyze the following types of data in 2016-17: responses and reflections of professional learning event participants; participant plans for implementing knowledge and skills gained from professional learning; and student work samples
Local curriculum alignment practices	District reporting on textbook and formative assessment selection Feedback gathered during meetings with content-area stakeholder groups Feedback gathered during meetings with district leaders

The department used this data to improve two of its supports for local instructional materials alignment:

• Guidance and instructional materials
• Professional development services

The department established the following routines to analyze data, discuss findings and determine actions to address identified needs:

• The department’s senior staff, divisions and offices used the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate, the state’s strategic plan and vision for college and career readiness, to guide their efforts.
• Senior department staff met weekly.
• Deputy superintendents and office directors from across the agency held regular, usually bi-monthly, staff meetings.

Moving Forward

As South Carolina strives to continuously improve, state leaders may wish to consider the following recommendations. Notably, in 2016, the department reported clear plans to address many components of these recommendations in 2016-17 and beyond.

• Enhance efforts to establish clear and consistent conventions for identifying high-quality instructional materials aligned to state standards. Continue 2016 plans for updating the state’s criteria for developing and reviewing textbooks, formative assessments and online, on-demand instructional materials, and align the criteria to each other. Continue verifying that the criteria fully reflect the content and rigor of the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards. Continue using the criteria, in collaboration with educators, to develop and select instructional materials at least annually, to provide educators with up-to-date materials that they can access on demand to meet their needs. See state efforts to establish clear, consistent, rigorous conventions described in the Florida, Louisiana, Maryland and North Carolina profiles.
• Continue to support local efforts to align instructional materials to the state’s new standards.
  • See efforts to provide extensive online, on-demand guidance and instructional materials noted in the Florida, Louisiana, Maryland and North Carolina profiles.
  • See professional learning and technical assistance initiatives that were intensive, integrated and sustained, and that reached large numbers of districts, schools or educators described in the Alabama, Louisiana and Kentucky profiles.
• Enhance the department’s use of data for continuous improvement. For example, continue gathering information on educator use of state guidance and instructional materials, and educator participation in state support services. Continue enhancing the analysis of data to examine how the use of state-provided materials and services impacts educator practice and student learning. See descriptions of strong state use of data described in the Arkansas, Delaware, Tennessee and West Virginia profiles.