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Drawing on interviews with administrators across seven Massachusetts districts, this report examines what it takes to implement Illustrative Mathematics in grades 6–8. The findings highlight the complications of the curriculum adoption and implementation process—one that must be treated as a long-term, systemwide endeavor engaging instructional actors across every level of a district.

Measuring math curriculum implementation is harder than it sounds. This paper examines the key challenges—from unclear curriculum ideals to costly data collection—and describes WestEd’s approach to addressing them in rigorous research.

Drawing on data from 71 Massachusetts middle schools, this first causal study of Illustrative Mathematics finds strong gains for pre-pandemic adopters—and none for post-pandemic adopters. Curriculum quality alone isn’t enough; implementation conditions matter.