Is Somos a vetted curriculum?

In today's educational landscape, districts are under significant pressure to ensure that the instructional materials they adopt are not only aligned with state and national standards, but also proven to support effective teaching and learning. A vetted curriculum provides a layer of assurance. 

In theory, vetted resources have undergone rigorous evaluation to confirm its quality, relevance, and compliance. However, there is no industry standard for what it means to be "vetted." Typically, there is an assumption that curricula published by large publishing houses are vetted, and that curricula published by small, independent publishing companies are not. This so-called "vetting" is rarely, if ever, explained. For that reason, we invite districts to interrogate their understanding of what it means for a curriculum to be vetted and to examine their bias against small, independent publishing companies. If you have listened to the Sold a Story podcast, you are aware of the harmful and widespread ramifications of entrusting large publishing houses to distribute “vetted” curriculum without personal investigation. Some questions to consider include:

1. In what ways are the materials available aligned with current research on Second Language Acquisition and adolescent learning? What evidence in the materials support any claims about alignment from the publisher?
2. What does the publication process look like for new curricula? How are they conceptualized, and what are the goals and steps for development?
3. What internal review processes does the publishing company conduct for newly published materials, prior to publication?
4. What does the hiring process look like at the publishing company, especially for those directly involved in the development of instructional materials? 
5. What does the review process look like for previously published materials? And, when errors, bias, and other concerns are identified, what does the correction and redistribution process look like? 
6. What independent data is available for program outcomes?
7. Who are the primary authors and other contributors, and what are their qualifications? Do those authors share the district’s vision for how language should be taught and what are reasonable expectations for program outcomes? 
8. What curriculum writing work is subcontracted out to third parties, and what is done in house? How are those third party subcontractors evaluated in terms of qualifications and cultural competency? 

Somos is a vetted curriculum

Somos is vetted by teachers, and it is for that reason that you will find that Somos is the #1 most recommended curriculum in the country. The Somos family of curricula has been used in classrooms around the world since 2011.

Our curriculum is used in over 100,000 classrooms worldwide, and for thirteen years we have invited feedback from every one of those educators. All feedback is carefully reviewed, and any changes implemented in response to feedback are instantly available to every one of those teachers. We do not believe in making districts pay to repurchase materials when updates are made. When districts purchase The Somos Curriculum, they are purchasing evergreen access to the most vetted curriculum on the market, because it is not reviewed by a team of professional textbook authors who are trained in how to plug content into a template but have no knowledge of language acquisition, proficiency, or the demands of a 2024 classroom in the United States. Somos is reviewed constantly by teachers who are experts in their field and who are actually using the materials in their classrooms.

The Comprehensible Classroom is happy to provide detailed information explaining our publication, review, and hiring processes for any district that wishes to take a serious look at how the materials used in their classes are developed. Contact us for more information!

More information

• Standards alignment
• Curriculum maps and overviews
• Somos and ACTFL Guiding Principles
• Is Somos an accredited curriculum?