A Five-Part Series on HQIM Readiness in Teacher Preparation

The Reality for New Teachers Entering the Classroom

Picture this: a first year teacher walks into her classroom on day one and finds a stack of curricular materials in the classroom closet. The resources are high quality instructional materials (HQIM), the very curriculum her district expects her to use, and has paid to have teachers trained and developed on. But her preparation program trained her to design lessons from scratch, not to internalize, adapt, and deliver lessons from a rigorous, P-12 standards aligned curriculum. This teacher is at an inflection point: does she leverage the resource, or continue doing what she has been trained to do?

This is the reality for far too many new teachers. And there are a lot of them. 

Our National Emergency

Each year, about 8% of all teachers are year-zero teachers, and that share in P-12 schools is rising.  Too often, they step into classrooms unready for the instructional demands they face. These year-zero teachers step into classrooms full of students who deserve instruction that is clear, engaging, and on grade level.

The impact and results are clear nationally: in 2024, 69 percent of fourth graders and 71 percent of eighth graders could not read on grade level, while 61 percent of fourth graders and 72 percent of eighth graders could not do math on grade level. These are not abstract statistics. Behind every percentage point are classrooms of children sitting below proficiency, often struggling to access grade-level content and losing confidence in themselves as P-12 learners. At a moment when P-12 students urgently need access to excellent teaching, too many novice teachers enter schools without the preparation to deliver it.

The stakes could not be higher. Without preparation that is deliberately aligned to high-quality instructional materials, the gap between what students need and what novice teachers can provide will persist. 

What Makes an Instructional Material “High-Quality?”

EdPrep Partners’ analysis of state definitions and expectations, along with guidance from national partners, shows strong agreement on what constitutes HQIM. At a minimum, HQIM meet the following criteria:

• Standards and assessment alignment. Materials are explicitly aligned with college and career ready state standards and support the development of knowledge and skills assessed on state and national exams.
• Systematic and aligned instruction. Content follows a logical, intentionally sequenced progression that builds knowledge and skills over time, especially in early literacy, mathematics, social studies, and science.
• Structured literacy aligned to the science of reading. For early grades and intervention, materials reflect structured literacy principles including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, delivered through systematic and explicit instruction aligned to the science of reading.
• Mathematics aligned to effective teaching practices. Math materials reflect the NCTM Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices, such as establishing clear goals, including cognitively demanding tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving, building procedural fluency from conceptual understanding, supporting meaningful discourse and purposeful questioning, connecting multiple representations, eliciting and using evidence of student thinking, and sustaining productive struggle.
• Content accuracy and rigor. Materials are content rich, discipline specific, and designed to promote rigorous thinking, conceptual understanding, and procedural fluency.
• Embedded assessment tools. Materials include formative and summative assessments that are clearly embedded so teachers can make real time instructional adjustments.
• Educator usability and support. Materials provide lesson plans, sample responses, pacing guides, and annotations that help educators deliver instruction with consistency and fidelity regardless of years of experience.
• Instructional efficiency. Materials streamline preparation and lesson delivery so educators spend more time on student learning and less time searching for or creating content from scratch.

Why HQIM Matters 

The stakes go beyond teacher readiness. Ensuring HQIM is foundational in teacher preparation has two parallel impacts. First, it aligns what candidates learn with the expectations of the districts, schools, and classrooms where they will serve as teachers of record. When preparation is designed around the same materials districts expect new teachers to use, candidates complete their program confident and practiced in delivering rigorous, standards aligned lessons.

Second, HQIM are shown to positively affect student learning in both literacy and math. Rigorous evaluations have documented meaningful gains in reading achievement, particularly for students who enter school behind their peers. In mathematics, randomized and quasi experimental studies have demonstrated measurable improvements in student outcomes, including gains equivalent to additional months of learning. At the state level, Louisiana and Tennessee have shown that when HQIM are implemented systemically, and when preparation aligns with that implementation, proficiency rates in reading and math rise even in the wake of pandemic disruptions.

HQIM is not simply another reform trend. It is one of the most direct and cost effective ways to improve both teacher readiness and P-12 student learning outcomes. This series is about how programs can take the steps necessary to move preparation beyond access. 

So the question becomes: what does it take for teacher preparation to move beyond access and make HQIM fundamental to the preparation of teacher candidates?

The HQIM Preparation Gap

Many teacher candidates graduate from preparation programs having never used or practiced with HQIM. Coursework still emphasizes designing lessons from scratch, or may merely provide candidates with access to HQIM in a resource room, without expecting teacher educators (faculty, clinical supervisors, and mentors) to be developed in it, let along embedding it in coursework or reinforcing its use in clinical experiences. 

Often the explanation is that programs have many district partners, each with its own curriculum materials. How could a program possibly equip candidates for them all? Yet the criteria for what makes instructional materials high quality are consistent, and the overwhelming majority of candidates from any program are hired in just a few local or regional districts. Further, most of those districts, when they have sourced a true HQIM, are drawing from a small set of publishing groups. In core subjects like reading and math, many districts are using the very same materials. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has noted that HQIM share common attributes such as alignment to standards, coherent sequencing, embedded assessments, and usability for teachers. In practice, then, most teacher candidates are hired into a relatively small number of partner districts, and in many cases those districts are implementing the same HQIM. 

The result is predictable. Preparation and practice remain misaligned, leaving new teachers unready, districts frustrated, and students without consistent access to the grade level and responsive instruction they deserve. But it does not have to be this way.

Signs of Progress

Across the country, there are examples of what it looks like when teacher preparation is aligned with the curriculum students actually experience. Understanding the local curriculum landscape is a critical first step for programs, enabling programs to align coursework and clinical experiences rather than leaving teacher candidates to make the connection on their own. 

Many states have already moved in this direction, though teacher preparation programs must catch-up. In Louisiana, the Believe and Prepare initiative helped ensure that candidates learned to teach with the same Tier 1 curricula their districts had adopted. Evaluations by REL Southwest found that the reform strengthened preparation, improved alignment with school systems, and contributed to measurable differences in teacher practice and student outcomes. In Tennessee, the state partnered with Deans for Impact to launch the HQIM Network, ensuring that educator preparation programs across the state developed coursework tied to high-quality literacy curriculum and structured literacy practices aligned to the science of reading. Candidates in the network showed significant gains on HQIM assessments, and districts reported stronger novice teacher readiness as a result.

Moving ‘Beyond Access’

To move beyond access, we need to ask the right questions, and the order in which we consider them matters. These questions are designed to guide reflection, create dialogue, and help programs and their partners see where preparation and practice can become more closely aligned and take action. Each question points to an area where programs and teacher educators can make meaningful progress toward stronger preparation. Together, they serve as guideposts for building programs that embed HQIM across candidates, teacher educators, and partnerships, ultimately preparing candidates to improve learning and outcomes for P-12 students.

Beyond Access | Part 1: The Case for HQIM in Teacher Preparation

Why is HQIM fundamental in quality teacher preparation?

Too many candidates complete programs without ever rehearsing or enacting instruction with the very materials they will be expected to use on day one. Treating HQIM as an in-service issue leaves new teachers unready, districts frustrated, and P-12 students underserved. The impact and results are clear nationally.2 

Beyond Access | Part 2: Aligning with the Quality Curriculum That Matters Most

Do teacher preparation programs know which curriculum their partner districts expect new teachers to use?

Programs cannot align coursework and clinical practice without a clear view of the local curriculum landscape. Knowing what districts use is the first step to move beyond access and begin designing candidate and teacher educator experiences around the materials that matter most.

Beyond Access | Part 3: What Strong HQIM Integration Looks Like for Candidates

In what ways are candidates practicing with HQIM across coursework and clinical experiences?

Candidates need repeated, authentic opportunities to plan, rehearse, and enact instruction with HQIM, not just see materials in passing or pull them from a resource room. Real practice builds day one confidence and skill.

Beyond Access | Part 4: What Strong HQIM Integration Looks Like for Teacher Educators

How are teacher educators, including faculty, supervisors, and mentors, being developed to use and model HQIM with skill and consistency?

Even when HQIM is present, candidates will not learn to use it well if the people who prepare them are not ready. Developing teacher educators to model, label, lead rehearsals, and coach with HQIM ensures consistent guidance, and candidate preparation, across the program.

Beyond Access | Part 5: What Strong HQIM Integration Looks Like for Programs

What plans do programs have in place to ensure HQIM readiness across coursework, clinical practice, and partnerships?

Isolated efforts fall short. Programs need an aligned plan that ties together candidate preparation, teacher educator development, and district partnership so HQIM moves from exposure to sustained practice.

Taken together, these questions point toward the steps necessary for moving preparation beyond access. Those steps include understanding the curriculum materials P-12 partner districts expect their teachers to use, ensuring candidates have repeated opportunities to practice with HQIM in both coursework and clinical experiences, developing teacher educators to label, model, lead rehearsals, and coach with HQIM, and building program structures that align with the developmental needs of candidates and the expectations of P-12 district partners.

The next four EdPrep Insights in this series will explore each of these steps in turn, offering a closer look at what strong HQIM integration requires for candidates, teacher educators, and programs.

Up Next: Aligning with the Quality Curriculum That Matters Most

The starting point for HQIM readiness in teacher preparation is clarity about what candidates will actually be expected to use in clinical experiences while they are being prepared and as teachers of record. Part 2 of our Beyond Access series examines why knowing what curricula P-12 partner districts expect new teachers to use is the essential first step for aligning coursework, clinical experiences, and teacher educator practice with the realities of the P-12 classroom.

Let’s make teacher preparation better together.