When was your last content review or refresh?
Outdated lessons, assessments, and instructional resources can leave your audience with more questions than answers—or worse, users will look to your competitors for the more relevant curricula. Keeping material current is critical to your organization’s success.
Why does educational curriculum updating matter?
Staying relevant
Change is inevitable. Education curriculum is continuously evolving. New academic research, pedagogical strategies, and technological advancements emerge regularly, making content quickly obsolete. Outdated content can fail to meet the needs of educators and learners and make it harder to make the list for state adoptions. Keeping your content up-to-date ensures it remains relevant and valuable.
Improving outcomes
Engaged learners perform better. Updating content with audio, video, games, and other interactive elements are more likely to engage learners and improve educational outcomes.
An example
Imagine a digital science textbook that traditionally offers static text and images. Pairing this with audio explanations or videos of real-world examples helps deepen understanding. Additionally, incorporating quizzes or educational games after each section keeps learners engaged and reinforces key concepts, ultimately improving retention and overall performance.
Likewise, fresh, well-researched materials can hold students' interest, making learning more enjoyable and effective. Similarly, updated professional development programs help ensure that educators have access to the latest insights and strategies. In fact, over the last 10 years high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) has been directly linked to positive student learning outcomes.
Meeting education curriculum standards
Alignment with standards is complex but essential. Every organization wants to expand their services to different districts and schools, but meeting the requirements of different states and districts can be challenging. Organizations have a better chance of their education curriculum being selected or approved if they meet or exceed requirements around things such as accessibility and standards coverage.
For example, consider a publisher creating math materials for middle school students. Different states may have varying requirements for specific skills to be covered, such as algebraic reasoning or data analysis. If the content aligns with these state standards, including updates for new digital literacy or STEM integration requirements, the materials have a higher chance of being adopted by school districts. On the other hand, content that overlooks these standards might be passed over, even if the material is strong in other areas. Incorporating both state-specific standards and broader accessibility guidelines (like ensuring all digital content meets WCAG 2.1) ensures the product is not only compliant but also competitive in a crowded market.
Steps to a successful update
Gather feedback.
An insightful audience inspires change. One of the most direct indicators that your content needs updating is feedback from users. Educators and learners can provide valuable insights into the relevance and effectiveness of your materials.
You can gather feedback from your users through surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, analytics, social media, online reviews, and direct interviews with clients.
Pay attention to feedback about:
Outdated information and language
Lack of opportunities for action and engagement
Changes in adoption or usage metrics
Specific grade-level, organizational, or subject matter concerns
This feedback can provide valuable insights as to what is and isn’t working for your audience, and provides ScribeConcepts with a baseline or starting point.
Perform a comprehensive audit.
Content gaps are black holes for engagement. Now that you have feedback from your clients and learners, triage necessary changes through a comprehensive audit. Review your existing education curriculum to assess their relevance, accuracy, and alignment with current standards. Identify outdated information, gaps in content, and areas where improvements can be made.
Not sure where to start? ScribeConcepts can help with this step!
Prioritize needs and assess resources.
Determine your “must haves” from your “nice to haves.” Updating curricula can be a major undertaking. We prioritize needs over wants to ensure that the most critical and impactful updates are made first, especially when time or resources are limited. This approach allows publishers to address the most pressing issues, such as meeting new standards or improving accessibility, which are essential for compliance and product success. If you are crunched for time, focusing your updates on the most critical and urgent needs may be your best approach. From there, evaluate what internal resources you have to dedicate to this work and what resources you will need from external partners and vendors.
An example
You want to update a series of math textbooks that have been flagged for missing new state standards and lack accessibility features like alt text for images and properly structured headings for screen readers. These are "must-haves" because the materials need to meet legal standards and ensure all students can access them.
However, you also want to refresh the overall design and include optional interactive features like videos and quizzes. While these "nice-to-haves" could enhance the learning experience, they don’t immediately affect compliance or usability.
Since you may have limited resources—both in terms of budget and internal staff—you decide to prioritize updating the content to meet new standards and improve accessibility first. Once those critical updates are made, you can assess remaining resources to determine if and when you can invest in the optional interactive features.
Even if your organization isn't crunched for time, you may still face resource constraints, such as limited budget, staff, or expertise. By focusing on the "must-haves," you make the best use of available resources, ensuring that essential updates are completed effectively before considering "nice-to-haves."
This step creates a clear, practical plan of action that prioritizes what's necessary for product success, while making the most efficient use of time and resources. It helps publishers avoid overcommitting and ensures that their efforts deliver the highest value.
Ensure compliance
Accessibility is essential. Meeting accessibility standards isn’t just about legal compliance—it’s about making sure all learners, including those with disabilities, can engage with your content effectively.
To start, ask yourself:
Are your materials compliant with the latest standards like WCAG 2.1, Section 508, or other regional guidelines?
Have you produced a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) for each of your products to outline their accessibility features?
If you’re unsure, conducting an accessibility audit is a critical first step that ScribeConcepts can help with. This audit will identify gaps in areas such as screen reader compatibility, alternative text for images, video captioning, color contrast, and keyboard navigation.
Prioritizing accessibility early in the update process ensures that your content is usable for all students, regardless of ability. Not only does this align with legal requirements, but it also opens up opportunities for your materials to be adopted more widely by districts and states that prioritize inclusive learning.
Accessibility improvements often require significant resources, but the long-term benefits—including broader market adoption and improved educational outcomes for all learners—make them a high-value investment.
Partner with ScribeConcepts.
Everyone deserves to benefit from your product. Whether your goal is to create more engaging content for middle schoolers or to incorporate more best practices for educators in your teacher resources and professional development courses, ScribeConcepts is here to help.
ScribeConcepts integrates the latest research findings and best practices into your content, ensuring that your materials provide the most current and effective strategies for educators and learners.
With ScribeConcepts in your corner, you’ll see…
Increased engagement – Capture the interest of educators and learners with fresh, relevant material.
Improved educational outcomes – Help teachers and leaders improve and accelerate learning with the latest research and best practices.
Enhanced reputation and trust – Enhance your reputation in the education sector and build trust with educators, institutions, learners, and families.
Competitive advantage – Stay ahead of the curve in a competitive market. Educators and institutions are searching for providers with the latest insights and most effective materials.
Need a hand? We’re here to help! If you’ve determined your curriculum needs an update, reach out to ScribeConcepts today.
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