08/20/2026
In a recent article from Education Week, the interviewee noted that state boards should strictly control local curriculum, comparing teachers who design learning materials to "novice cooks who shouldn't be allowed to invent recipes."
While we respect the macro-policy background and expertise of leaders advocating for top-down governance, policy design and daily classroom practice are two very different worlds.
Teachers are trained to be the pedagogical experts in education. They are professionals who know how to design a local curriculum fully aligned to state standards that address the specific learning needs of their community of students.
Off-the-shelf, commercial programs treat every classroom as if it were identical. In reality, a rigid recipe doesn't work when a student in front of you needs a different approach. Forcing educators to constantly adapt inflexible publisher materials to fit real kids’ needs creates unnecessary friction and burnout.
The research shows a better way. John Hattie’s Visible Learning research identifies Collective Teacher Efficacy, where teachers work together to own, design, and evaluate their instructional impact, as the single greatest factor influencing student achievement (Cohen’s d = 1.57). This is three to eight times greater than the impact of relying on off-the-shelf commercial programs (Cohen’s d = 0.18 - 0.45, with a baseline of d = 0.40).
Real instructional quality doesn't come from treating teachers like line cooks following commercial recipes. It comes from trusting their professional expertise, building local capacity, and empowering educators to design state-standard-aligned curriculum and assessments tailored to their students.
What do you think? Should districts rely on off-the-shelf publisher programs or invest in teacher-led curriculum design?
https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/should-state-boards-have-more-oversight-of-curricula/2026/08?utm_source=nl&utm_medium=eml&utm_campaign=eu&M=19409982&UUID=73dd85dab7f6bc6329f48cc25bfdbd6d&T=25441159
