Resources

SETDA Releases New Online Toolkit to Guide the Selection of Quality Instructional Materials

• By Richard Chang
• 02/10/17

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is releasing a new online toolkit, From Print to Digital: Guide to Quality Instructional Materials. Developed in collaboration with state and district digital learning leaders, instructional materials directors and academic officers, this guide provides states, districts and schools with research, resources and examples to support selection of quality instructional materials for learning and teaching.

The Guide to Quality Instructional Materials provides information to establish or enhance state level review processes and offers guidance to districts for both core-content and supplemental resources, including print and digital resources. In this toolkit, SETDA identifies and explains the key steps in this process — planning, budget, selection, implementation and effectiveness, with specific details of several state and district vetting processes.

“SETDA is proud to have developed this unique, useful tool in collaboration with state leaders from a variety of agencies to help ensure quality materials are purchased and procured to meet the needs of all students,” said Tracy Weeks, executive director of SETDA, in a statement. “States have the ability to provide leadership for local education agencies and schools regardless of state procurement policies so that every student has access to quality materials for learning.”

Complementing this resource is a new online community of practice to provide policy makers, school administrators, leaders and educators with a better understanding of policies and practices related to digital instructional materials. The community, Essential Elements for Digital Content, is free and open to the public. The community will engage in and encourage dialog about the shift to digital materials including the vetting process, accessibility, professional learning, OER, procurement, implementation and infrastructure.

SETDA is the national nonprofit association representing the interests of American state and territorial education technology leadership. Last year, SETDA issued a report featuring new goals for internet and wide area network (WAN) services, with recommendations varying according to the size of school districts. SETDA’s internet capacity targets for 2020-2021 were approximately three times that of 2017-18.

For more information on SETDA, visit the organization’s website.