Choosing High-Quality Pre-K Curriculum and Instructional Materials

A 2024 report from a committee of experts at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examined more than 50 years of evidence on pre-K curricula to create a new vision of preschool curriculum that improves education and outcomes for all preschoolers.

What should state and local leaders do to support evidence-based pre-K curricula?

• Use proven curricula that support the whole child.
  • Choose curricula backed by research that promote developmentally appropriate learning goals, a scope and sequence, coherent alignment with specific domains, and engaging content.
• Help teachers work closely with families.
  • Build curricular components that are meaningful and relevant for all children.
  • Empower families to play an active role in their children's development.
  • Recognize the diversity in and value of family practices and integrate these practices when possible.
  • Celebrate families’ languages, cultures, beliefs, traditions, and talents and invite these assets into the classroom.
• Invest in teachers and classroom support.
  • Provide policies, funding, and technical assistance that help educators succeed, including:
    • ongoing professional development and regular in-classroom coaching
    • access to tools and materials that help them use proven curricula effectively
    • effective supports for children with identified disabilities
    • strategies for delivering instruction in children’s home languages alongside English and research-based ways for monolingual English-speaking teachers to connect learning across language
• Expand access to high-quality programs.
  • Identify and create opportunities for children to attend schools and community programs that use effective curricula and associated practices.
  • Provide training and resources that support teachers’ understanding of how curricular content, instructional techniques, assessments, and pedagogy align.
• Stabilize and strengthen the early childhood workforce.
  • Develop strategies to address high staffing turnover rates in early childhood programs, including providing financial security and benefits that promote teachers’ physical and mental health.

What do pre-K teachers want and need for instructional materials?

Researchers asked a nationally representative sample of public school-based pre-K teachers about the instructional materials they use in their classrooms and their needs for professional learning. Most teachers reported that they often combine different types of materials, suggesting that no single resource fully met their needs.

What types of professional learning did teachers find most useful?

• observing other teachers’ instruction and peer collaboration
• receiving feedback on their own instruction from peers

Which types of professional learning did teachers find least useful?

• virtual coaching, online videos, and webinars
  • still, about 70% reported that these options are useful, but less so than more interactive, in-person learning experiences

What do pre-K teachers want more professional learning about?

• meeting the needs of diverse learners, including children with disabilities, English language learners, and children from a variety of cultural backgrounds
  • teachers sometimes create their own materials—or use resources like Teachers Pay Teachers—to adapt lessons and support these diverse learners

What do pre-K teachers look for in instructional materials?

• hands-on learning activities
• lessons that cover multiple content areas
• age-appropriate teaching strategies
• learning activities that follow children’s developmental stages