In the landscape of K–12 education, a significant shift is underway: a growing recognition of the power and necessity of HQIM—High-Quality Instructional Materials. But what are HQIM in education, and why are they gaining such momentum among educators?
Throughout our years working with teachers, school leaders, and district administrators across the country, we’ve realized that HQIM are the foundation on which you build the house. When HQIM are adopted and implemented coherently across your district, and when your professional learning and assessments align tightly with your materials and curriculum, students grow.
We’ll break down what HQIM really means, how successful implementation of HQIM transforms student learning, and why materials alone aren’t enough.
What are HQIM in Education?
HQIM (High-Quality Instructional Materials) are curricula and learning resources that are:
- Aligned to rigorous academic standards
- Built on evidence-based instructional practices
These materials go beyond textbooks—they include lesson plans and instructional strategies crafted to help students meet high academic expectations.
People who know me best know that I’m a bit of a puzzle nerd. And, as any good puzzle nerd will tell you, successful puzzling begins with the edge pieces. You’ve got to put those in place first so that you understand the size of the puzzle, its boundaries, and so you have a solid outline from which to build the rest of the puzzle. HQIM are like those edge pieces – they give you the frame that lets you build the rest of the puzzle. Once they are in place, you can put your assessments in place, your professional learning, your instructional supports, your interventions, all the remaining instructional pieces you need to make one, beautifully coherent puzzle.
That’s why just adopting HQIM aren’t enough. The curriculum is only step one–the implementation and how the materials are integrated into a cohesive ecosystem is where educators and students see the most benefit.
An Approach to HQIM Implementation
ANet (Achievement Network) helps schools and districts not only adopt HQIM but also put them to work through a comprehensive and coherent strategy. As you work through your approach to HQIM implementation, consider these two buckets.
1. Developing an Implementation Roadmap
At the beginning, district leaders conduct the following activities:
- Evaluating and selecting high-quality materials
- Building cross-functional leadership teams
- Engaging stakeholders in decision-making
- Setting a clear instructional vision
2. Deep Implementation Support
After the adoption process, district leaders must consistently engage school leaders and teachers in the following implementation activities:
- Operationalizing the instructional vision at the school and classroom level
- Engaging in targeted professional development and aligning PLCs with your PD plan
- Monitoring student progress and adjusting over time
- Ensuring continuous improvement based on data
This type of engagement is critical for several reasons, and it’s especially important with school leaders. We all know that high-quality professional learning is important for teachers, and our district partners consistently do their best to provide good PL to their teachers. But research by Grissom et al (among much other research) points out how important this type of engagement is with school leaders. As they note: “Indeed, given not just the magnitude but the scope of principal effects, which are felt across a potentially large student body and faculty in a school, it is difficult to envision an investment with a higher ceiling on its potential return than a successful effort to improve principal leadership.”
Real-World Results: HQIM in Action
The impact of this approach is measurable. During the 2023–24 school year, 88% of ANet’s district partners met the majority of their instructional goals—with similar success among those focused on curriculum implementation.
One standout example in years past is Carlsbad, New Mexico:
- Teachers who believed their materials were high-quality: ↑ from 58% to 80%
- Teachers who saw alignment to standards: ↑ from 71% to 89%
- Daily curriculum use: ↑ from 68% to 83%
These gains came after ANet partnered with Carlsbad to select, adopt, and implement a new, highly-aligned curriculum.
Other partners saw similar value as they implemented high-quality instructional materials. As Dr. Quentinia Timoll, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction in East Baton Rouge Parish, shared:
“Without ANet’s partnership… we would not have seen the gains… ANet really brought that expertise not only to the school level leadership but also to the district level.”
This quote underscores what many educators are now realizing: HQIM in education are powerful—but only when embedded in a thoughtful, system-wide instructional strategy alongside actionable insights.
The Challenge: Materials Alone Aren’t Enough
While HQIM are a critical foundation for student success, research shows that up to 70% of curriculum implementations fail without a clear plan and consistent coaching.
Why? Because teaching with new materials requires:
- Shifts in instructional practice that reflect the intent of the curriculum
- Belief in the instructional materials
- Ongoing, job-embedded professional learning
- Actionable insights that help teachers understand how to use their curriculum to meet student needs
David Steiner recently published an article discussing why teachers stop using or significantly modify their curriculum, and it resonated strongly with what we’ve observed as we’ve worked with our district partners. Alongside many successes their students achieve, teachers often see their students struggle to access grade-level content in their curriculum. And so they look elsewhere for materials that can help their students catch up. This is time consuming for teachers and it can inadvertently be the wrong choice for students because the materials that teachers find may be of lower quality or they may not align to the core curriculum in a way that makes sense with the rest of what a student is learning.
This challenge is particularly acute when teachers have the wrong assessments. When assessments provide data that identifies high-level trends or domain- or standards-level support needs for students, teachers struggle to take action using their curriculum. Many of the leading growth assessments provide teachers with data that suggests students might need help with an entire standard (or domain). Yet that standard might represent as much as two weeks of instruction in their core curriculum. As such, teachers don’t know where to look in their curriculum to address students' needs, so they turn to outside sources.
Making HQIM Work for Your Schools
To truly unlock the power of HQIM in education, districts must:
- Choose wisely: Evaluate materials for quality and alignment
- Plan boldly: Align instructional vision and goals
- Support continuously: Provide professional learning and leadership coaching
- Adapt strategically: Use actionable insights to guide decisions and adjustments
When these pieces are in place, coherence is evident across your district and your assessments provide a forward-thinking and actionable approach that enhances your curriculum. Because High-Quality Instructional Materials aren’t the destination—they’re the launchpad.
Want to Learn More?
Check out some of our HQIM implementation stories of impact.
- Statewide Partnership Supports Districts with HQIR
- A Beacon of Excellence: McDermitt Combined School's Journey to Success
- The Manor Way - HQIM and Data Moves Instruction Forward
Looking to take the next step with your implementation? Assess your team's readiness for HQIM implementation with our Ready for Progress Pulse Check tool!