2021 United States Instructional Materials Adoption Scorecard and 2022 Outlook

The 2021-2022 instructional materials adoption season was a year of recovery for the publishing market, as most districts made decisions in accordance with the traditional academic schedule. While this provided some relief to publishers, there remain challenges. Subscriptions for bundled materials and services continue to decline, creating many questions about how providers will be able to compete against other high-growth subscription models in K-12 education. Additionally, given increasing state influence over local decisions through recent measures such as local control and non-compliance policies, publishers face challenges when it comes to sales projections for upcoming years.

The adoption opportunities in 2021 and results from major adoptions in 2022 are provided in the recently released 2021 National Instructional Materials Adoption Scorecard and 2022 Outlook.

Instructional Materials Adoption Results

This report outlines the largest adoption opportunities for K-12 publishers in 2021, provides an overview of the instructional materials adoption process and selected results in Texas, California, North Carolina, and Florida, and includes the annual Publisher Scorecard and a calendar of scheduled adoptions from 2022-2025.

The 2021 National Instructional Materials Adoption Scorecard and 2022 Outlook contains separate chapters covering the 2020-2021 adoption cycle, the 2021-2022 adoption results including sales data and scorecard, and an outlook that includes:

• Florida’s adoption of Social Studies materials 2022-2023
• Texas’ launch of math and literacy framework development grant 2022-2023
• Texas’ decision to rewrite its K-12 social studies curriculum 2022-2023
• 2022-2025 adoption schedule information for the 18 states that the author tracks for major adoptions
• An Essential Resource for Market Insights

Publishers and education professionals can trust 2021 National Instructional Materials Adoption Scorecard and 2022 Outlook to provide the inside intelligence needed to evaluate market growth, understand trends affecting the K-12 publishing market, and size up the competition.

Examples of key findings include:

• Participation in instructional materials adoptions continues to be a path to penetration in the K-12 school market.
• Reading and math continue to be the largest revenue generators. Participating in statewide adoptions in those subjects remain key sales strategies for small and large instructional materials providers.
• Participating in statewide adoptions in STEM/STEAM is a growing area in the market for small and large instructional materials providers. While traditional publishers maintain their dominance in core adoptions, rising technology-based providers such as QuaverEd have joined the ranks as major competitors.
• The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the adoption process in 2020 - particularly fulfillment - but did not crash it. Most reviews and decisions continued apace virtually allowing 2021 adoptions to take place as scheduled.

The 2021 National Instructional Materials Adoption Scorecard and 2022 Outlook is an essential tool for publishing executives, M&A advisors, market analysts, and industry consultants who need to understand the business strategies driving the K-12 publishing market.