Boulder Valley School District
Adopted: March 5, 1981
Revised: September 12, 1991; March 10, 1994; August 14, 2001; January 27, 2004; May 8, 2012, January 23, 2018, October 10, 2023, August 12, 2025, November 18, 2025
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS SELECTION AND ADOPTION
As the governing body of the Boulder Valley School District, the Board of Education is legally responsible for the selection of all Instructional Materials. Since the Board is a policymaking body, it delegates to professional personnel of the School District the authority for the selection of Instructional materials and library resources in accordance with this policy. When educators use their professional discretion and base decisions on the criteria in this policy. BVSD educators can be confident that they will be supported by the Board.
Funds to purchase adopted instructional materials and library resources shall be made available on an equitable basis to all schools in the District based on pupil counts and other relevant factors.
All instructional materials and library resources shall be reasonably available for inspection by Boulder Valley School District community members, including students, parents/guardians of current students, and residents of the School District.
Instructional Materials Selection and Use
Purpose and Criteria
Boulder Valley School District’s course of study is designed to encourage the growth and development of each student toward meeting or exceeding the Board adopted Academic Standards. All instructional resources and materials shall support the School District’s education objectives as defined in the School District’s Vision, Mission, Values and Goals, including that all students meet or exceed state and district content standards. The Board establishes as general criteria for selection that instructional materials:
- …will align to adopted academic standards, enrich and support the curriculum, and meet the personal needs of Boulder Valley students, taking into consideration the varied interests, abilities, learning styles, and ages.
- …will support evidence-based instructional practices to stimulate growth in factual knowledge, problem-solving and process understanding, literary appreciation, aesthetic values, and ethical standards.
- …provide a foundation of information that, in conjunction with engaging instructional discourse and activities, will enable students to make intelligent judgments in their daily lives.
- …realistically represent our pluralistic society and reflect the contributions made by all groups and their individual members.
- …demonstrate a range of different perspectives on controversial issues so that learners may develop, under instructional guidance, the practice of critical analysis.
- …are culturally responsive, including meeting the needs of Emerging Bilingual and Spanish speaking students including through quality translation practices where applicable.
- …comply with any current or anticipated State (e.g. the Colorado Department of Education's approved lists) and Federal requirements to assure efficiency of expenditures and adoptions.
- …will have content that is unbiased and clearly identifies when theories, opinions, and philosophical statements are presented.
- …will have appropriate ancillary print, non-print, and digital materials as needed to support instruction.
- … will provide physical characteristics, durability, format and price that are appropriate for the selected length of the adoption.
- … that are digital in nature must comply with the School District's policy on student data privacy.
- … must be developed to the extent that they provide sufficient evidence that all of the above criteria and any criteria set by the adoption committee are met at the time of the public review.
Instructional Materials Categories
1. District Core Instructional Materials are approved as the required instructional materials used predominantly for the delivery of core academic coursework to all members of the class. District Core Instructional Materials must be approved by the Board of Education prior to use in classrooms. District Core Instructional Materials are eligible for District Adopted Instructional Materials funds.
2. District Supplemental Materials are defined as instructional materials selected to support and enhance the learning of core academic standards. These support materials enrich and/or extend the Core Instructional Materials, taking into consideration the needs, varied interests, abilities, socio‐economic backgrounds, and maturity levels of the students served. The Board of Education delegates to the district‐level curriculum staff the selection of these support materials during the prescribed adoption cycle through a committee based process, including teachers, and based on the criteria in this Policy. District Support Materials are eligible for District Adopted Instructional Materials funds.
3. School-based Support Materials are defined as non-core materials that are selected and approved by building staff according to the criteria in this Policy, purchased by individual schools, using school-based funds, to enrich and/or extend the District Core Instructional Materials, taking into consideration the needs, varied interests, abilities, socio-economic backgrounds, and maturity levels of the students served. Schools may work with District leadership in selecting these materials. Also, BVSD may establish a committee that may provide District level review of school-based support materials as requested by schools.
4. Outdated Materials are materials from previous adoption cycles. All materials that are not a part of the new Adopted Materials list will be deleted from the approved materials list. While these materials have components that support specific instructional lessons, these materials are to support classroom use only and should not be used as Core Instructional Materials in a classroom. School District staff shall dispose of excess materials in an appropriate manner. District funds may not be used to purchase outdated materials.
Library Resources Selection and Use
Purpose and Criteria
Library resources means material, both print and non-print, found in a public school library that supports curricular or personal information needs. Print items include books, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, microfiche, or microfilm. Non-print items include e-books, streaming resources, films, disc records, filmstrips, slides, prints, audiotapes, videotapes, compact discs, computer software, library programs, and exhibits. Library resources do not include materials in an individual classroom library.
The Board delegates to School District and school staff and teacher librarians the authority to select (and deselect) materials for the School District’s library resource collections in accordance with professional practice and considering as general criteria for selection (and deselection) that library resources:
- …will provide equitable access to current and relevant library resources to nurture information-fluent students and community members who read for learning and pleasure.
- …will feature a range of books and other library resources for the interest, education, and enlightenment of all students.
- …will provide staff and students with materials that enrich and support the curriculum and meet the needs of the learning community.
- …will enable students to study issues that have political, economic, or social significance, and that allow for critical analysis of issues.
- …will stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literary appreciation, and aesthetic values.
- …will present a wide variety of perspectives and experiences to engender empathy and understanding, including for populations addressed in Board Policy AC and state and federal law.
- …will provide students with a wide range of materials on all levels of difficulty, in various languages, and as appropriate to the maturity and ability levels of the student population.
- …will include up-to-date, high quality, varied literature to develop and strengthen a love of reading.
- …will exemplify a range of genres and literary styles.
- …reflect desirable attributes of literary value, formatting and text layout, accuracy, authoritativeness, and aesthetic characteristics.
The selection of resources for the school library collection is a process that includes review of state academic standards, School District curriculum, student needs, ongoing review of the many resources available in the marketplace, and periodic assessment of the changing nature of print and digital resources. Recommendations from students, staff, curriculum content teams, and community members shall be sought and considered.
Tools used to select school library materials will include
a. professional journal reviews;
b. award lists;
c. recommendations from teacher librarians and district personnel;
d. recommendations from students, staff and community members; and,
e. school library collection analysis.
Library resource displays shall reflect the criteria in this Policy.
Materials donated or gifted to a school library shall be accepted or rejected in accordance with this Policy and the ALA/AASL national standards.
LEGAL REFERENCES
- C.R.S. 22-32-109 (1)(t) (board duty to determine educational program and prescribe textbooks)
- C.R.S. § 22-32-110 (1)(o), (p), (q) (text books and supplies)
- C.R.S. 22-54-104 (1) (budgeting for instructional supplies and materials)