Review Methodologies
How We Evaluate Instructional Materials
Alignment Reviews
Learning List’s alignment verification process is a rigorous, multi-step system overseen by our Director of Alignment. Multiple certified subject matter experts (SMEs) sequentially review citations in the publisher’s correlation for alignment to the relevant state or national standards.
After SMEs complete their reviews for a given grade level, the Director of Alignment ensures completeness and resolves any discrepancies among reviewers within and across grade levels. We then calculate the percentage of standards to which the material is aligned for each grade level.
What Alignment Means
A citation (e.g., lesson, activity, assessment item) is considered aligned only if it fully addresses the content, cognitive rigor, and context of the standard.
Publisher Preview Process
Before publication, publishers preview the alignment report and may submit additional citations for any standard for which no aligned citations were found initially. These new citations are reviewed using the same methodology, and the alignment percentage is updated accordingly.
For products reviewed through the Texas State Board of Education’s Instructional Materials Review and Approval (IMRA) process, Learning List publishes the state review panel’s alignment report and alignment percentage.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
Learning List uses the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA’s) official alignment templates and review methodology. Each Student Expectation is broken down into components (Breakouts, Elements, and Sub-Elements). A material is considered aligned to a Student Expectation only if at least one aligned citation addresses every component.
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
The alignment percentage reflects the proportion of standards for which we found at least one aligned citation. If a standard includes multiple expectations, we must find at least one aligned citation for every expectation for the material to be considered aligned to that standard.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Materials are reviewed for alignment to each Performance Expectation (PE) and its three dimensions (Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, and Crosscutting Concepts). However, the alignment percentage reflects only the proportion of PEs to which the material is aligned. A material is considered aligned to a PE only if we find at least one aligned citation for that PE.
Editorial Reviews
Immediately following the alignment review, SMEs complete a detailed instructional quality rubric for each grade level. Our Director of Editorial Review then aggregates findings by grade band and writes an evidence-based editorial review for each grade band. If a material presents unique concerns at a particular grade level, a separate review is completed for that grade level.
Our editorial reviews assess key aspects of instructional quality to help educators identify materials that best support their students’ learning needs, including:
Vertical alignment across grade levels
Instructional design, including focus and coherence
Rigor and complexity
Student resources, including support for diverse learners and remote learning
Teacher resources, including tools for differentiating instruction and remote instruction and professional learning support
Assessment quality
Ease of use and progress monitoring tools
Editorial reviews are developed using insights from:
Learning List’s trained subject matter experts
Educators who have used the product with students
Independent product research
Publisher-submitted information
Spec Sheet Reviews
Learning List’s Spec Sheets provide a high-level overview of each material’s key instructional features and technology compatibility. These summaries help curriculum leaders and campus administrators efficiently identify resources that align with district or campus adoption criteria.
After the editorial review is finalized, Learning List’s Director of Editorial Review completes the Academic Attributes section of the Spec Sheet. This section summarizes the material’s key instructional features, such as rigor, support for diverse learners, and ease of use, that are explored in greater depth in the full editorial review.
To help districts avoid selecting digital materials that may not work with their existing technology, Learning List staff manually test key features of the material on commonly used devices and operating systems and document whether each feature performs as intended. Publishers also complete a Technology Attributes rubric, and each review includes a link to the publisher’s official technical specifications.