As a lead teacher, curriculum coordinator or selection committee chair, you may be facing some difficult decisions about whom to involve and how to prepare for the selection process, as well as how to collect information about and finally choose a new math curriculum.

Setting Goals
Often, schools that are selecting new mathematics materials are seeking to make changes in teachers' classroom practice and improve student learning and achievement. In addition to using the selection process to choose a new curriculum program, you might also consider it an opportunity to:
• Define goals for student learning and teachers' use of instructional materials
• Provide teacher professional development in mathematics or pedagogy aligned with the curriculum programs you're considering
• Build teacher buy-in and commitment to curricular -- and instructional -- change
• Build community involvement and support
• Bring greater consistency to mathematics instruction
Certainly, you'll continue these efforts during implementation of the program you choose. However, identifying goals and beginning to work toward them during selection will help you facilitate the desired shifts in teachers' practice and the school’s culture at the same time as you usher in a new program.

Choosing Selection Committee Members 
One of the key decisions in the selection process is who comprises the selection committee. Many groups of people are invested in curricular decisions -- teachers and school administrators, and parents. Consequently, you must weigh the value of a diverse committee whose members represent a broad range of stakeholders against the value of a committee that's well-poised to work toward consensus.

Building a Foundation
Although your committee may feel its most urgent task is to review curriculum materials, time you spend early on defining your goals, reviewing data and research, and understanding the approach of these programs will save you lots of time and frustration down the line. Sooner or later, committee members will need a stronger understanding of these materials; helping people build that knowledge before selection can help to smooth the implementation process later on.

Collecting Information
In addition to looking through samples of the curriculum materials, you'll also want to find other mechanisms for learning more about each program. Reviewers need to spend time exploring the depths of the mathematics, how the mathematics is developed, and how the program is designed for students with different learning styles and needs.

In some schools, people have learned more about the programs they're considering by:
• Collecting and reviewing basic information about the programs from publishers, developers and implementation centers
• Attending presentations
• Visiting or making phone calls to schools using the programs
• Piloting one or two of the curricula
Learning about curriculum programs from these types of sources can help you rule out those programs that are obviously not a good fit for your students, teachers, or school philosophy. Once you've narrowed down the pool of curricula you're considering, it's time to examine them more closely.

Designing Criteria
In addition to understanding the mathematical philosophies and strategies underlying the curricula, a selection committee should be well aware of the particular needs of its own students and teachers.

Once you have articulated needs, your committee can develop a set of selection criteria for reviewing each candidate program. Your final goal is to select a curriculum that fits your "personality," so the criteria you design should help you anticipate the impact each potential program might have on your students, teachers, administrators and parents.

Categories for selection criteria include:
• Development of important mathematics topics
• Pedagogical approach
• Teacher readiness
• Supports available for teachers
• Approach to and resources for assessment
• Organization and structure of the materials
• Technology
• Community readiness
• Demand on resources
Most importantly, the criteria should enable you to figure out whether the program will help you meet the goals you've set for improving mathematics instruction, and whether it is a good fit in your school.

Anticipating Implementation
In addition to helping you think about the impact of the curricula on classrooms, careful research about the programs also forecasts the types of supports your teachers, students and community will need during implementation.

Understanding your support needs will help you assess whether your current resources are adequate. You may find you need to plan for additional resources to meet some of those needs, and preparing early is important.

Key areas to think about early include:
• What types of professional development and teacher support will be needed with the new program? How will you provide it?
• How will you evaluate teachers' and students' progress with the new program?
• How will you fund ongoing support for and replacement of consumable materials?
• What strategies will help you build support within the community? How do you want to inform or involve parents and members of the community?
The work of adopting a new mathematics curriculum will not be over once you've decided which program to purchase. Selection is just the beginning of the implementation process.

This information was created by the K-12 Mathematics Curriculum Center at Education Development Center, Inc.