⏱️ When Curriculum Meets the Clock — And Students Pay the Price
- Cheryl Fricchione
- Sep 7
- 4 min read
adopting high-quality instructional materials isn’t enough without rethinking time
Not every district that adopts high-quality instructional materials is actually setting teachers up for success.
It’s the start of a new school year, and in schools across New Jersey (and beyond), teachers are opening their shiny new HQIM Teacher Guides and logging into their digital platforms. The vision is there: rigorous tasks, meaningful discourse, and coherence across grades.
👉 But what happens when the schedule doesn’t match the curriculum?
Because the truth is: investing in materials is only half the story — without rethinking time, students miss out on the very learning experiences those materials are designed to create.
🎶 Here's the Story
🎶 Here’s the story… of a district teaching math,
Who adopted brand-new high-quality curriculum.
🎶 All the teachers planned to dig in with their students,
To help them make more sense.
🎶 Here’s the problem… the schedules didn’t change,
And the minutes didn’t match what lessons need.
🎶 Though the curriculum was strong, time cut things shorter…
And students lost chances to succeed.
But unlike the Brady Bunch, this story doesn’t wrap up neatly with a happy chorus. And here’s the thing — this isn’t just one school’s story.
If it sounds familiar, it’s because many districts are in the same place: investing in high-quality instructional materials but not adjusting schedules to support them. The result? Teachers are left in one of three binds:
⚠️ Three Common Binds
As you can see in the diagram below, districts often fall into one of three binds:
1️⃣ Not enough time to finish lessons as designed. Rich discussions get cut short, opportunities to synthesize learning are skipped, and key tasks are rushed. Students may go through the motions, but they don’t always get the chance to truly make sense of the math.
2️⃣ No time to address unfinished learning. Even when Tier 1/Core lessons are taught well, there’s no room in the day to circle back or plan ahead. Teachers can see where students need to revisit concepts from earlier grades or reinforce current ones — but the clock says, “keep moving.”
3️⃣ Both at once. In some schools, teachers face the double challenge of not having enough time for lessons and no space for unfinished learning. In those cases, the promise of HQIM feels especially out of reach.
📌 The investment in curriculum is only half the story. Without rethinking systems and structures like schedules, pacing, and intervention time, the promise of HQIM never fully reaches students.
💡 The Solution: Integrity Over Fidelity
The answer isn’t to squeeze harder or simply “cover more.” The answer is to treat the curriculum with integrity rather than rigid fidelity.
Fidelity says: follow every lesson and activity exactly as written, even when the schedule makes it impossible.
Integrity says: preserve the mathematical intent of each lesson, even if you adapt the pacing or structure to fit your students’ time and needs.
This shift changes everything.
📚 An Example in Action
At one school using Illustrative Mathematics, 7th- and 8th-grade lessons were written for 50 minutes, but reality was 45-minute class periods — with a need to carve out time for Tier 2 intervention.
By approaching the curriculum with integrity, we streamlined most lessons down to 30 minutes while keeping the heart of the math intact. That freed up space for students to engage in Tier 2 support without sacrificing their Tier 1 experience.
🔑 The Key to Making Adjustments
Whether you’re using Illustrative Mathematics or another HQIM, the process is the same:
1️⃣ Start with the learning goals or targets.
What should students understand or be able to do by the end of the lesson?
2️⃣ Look at the Cool Down, Show What You Know, or Exit Ticket.
What evidence are students asked to produce to demonstrate understanding?
3️⃣ Check the synthesis/connection. (In IM it’s the Synthesis, in iReady Classroom/ADM it’s the Connect.)
What examples are being highlighted? What is the teacher expected to emphasize as the takeaway?
4️⃣ Prioritize tasks.
Choose the activities that directly support 1–3, and trim the ones that are “nice to have” but not essential.
🤓☝️ Tips to Save Time
✂️ Preplan which activities or problems to eliminate if they don’t serve the day’s learning target — don’t just cut the lesson off when time runs out.
📝 Do prep work ahead of time (pre-cutting, measuring, etc.) so the math remains the focus.
🧮 Allow calculators during the first few units so computation doesn’t block access to key concepts.
⏱️ Use the 10–15 minutes of Tier 2 time each day for number sense and fluency practice.
📌 The Bottom Line
Integrity over fidelity is what allows teachers to make the curriculum work for their students and schedules — without losing the rigor or the intent.
✨ Adopting HQIM is only half the story. Protecting time, focusing on the right tasks, and aligning lessons to learning goals is what ensures every student has the chance to truly make sense of the math.
💬 Your turn: How do you make sure the mathematical intent doesn’t get lost when time is tight? Share your thoughts in the comments — I’d love to hear how you’re approaching this challenge.
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