OPEN UP RESOURCES ANNOUNCES TWO NEW FREE, OPENLY LICENSED CURRICULA IN DEVELOPMENT
New curriculum for high school math and middle school ELA will complement existing offerings, giving school districts a broad suite of low-cost, standards-aligned alternatives to traditional textbooks.
MENLO PARK, CA, August 8, 2017– Open Up Resources, the nonprofit provider of openly licensed curriculum for K–12 schools, is developing a comprehensive high school math curriculum with Illustrative Mathematics, the nonprofit founded by noted mathematician and standards author Bill McCallum, and has also partnered with the Louisiana Department of Education to develop a middle school English Language Arts curriculum.
Funded by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, these two new titles will add to Open Up Resources’ suite of ELA and math curricula, providing high-quality, freely available alternatives to core programs offered by traditional publishers.
The new offerings include:
High School Math Curriculum: Open Up Resources and Illustrative Mathematics will partner on the development of a comprehensive curriculum for high school Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. The two nonprofit organizations previously partnered on the development of the highly anticipated Illustrative Mathematics Middle School Math curriculum, and the high school materials will flow coherently from the middle school program.
All Illustrative Mathematics curricula are designed based on sound mathematical progressions. The materials foster discussion-filled classrooms and encourage students to show their mathematical thinking in multiple ways.
Both the middle school curriculum and the new high school curriculum leverage mathematical language routines developed by Stanford University’s UL-SCALE to support English language learners, and also include robust supports for students with disabilities and accelerated students. The new high school program will be piloted in the 2018–2019 school year and published as an Open Educational Resource (OER) for 2019–2020 adoption.
Middle School Language Arts Curriculum: Open Up Resources has partnered with the Louisiana Department of Education to develop an enhanced and redesigned version of the Louisiana Guidebooks, a highly regarded curriculum developed by Louisiana educators as part of a collaborative state initiative. This is the nonprofit’s first collaboration with a state department of education.
The Louisiana team will revise the curriculum by deepening its standards alignment, adding extensive differentiation supports for English language learners and below-benchmark readers, and expanding the writing instruction component. Improved visual designs will make the materials more engaging for students. The revised curriculum, which comes complete with literary and informational texts, will be piloted in 2017–2018 and released as OER for 2018–2019 adoption.
All Open Up Resources curricula are developed against the highest measures of standards alignment and incorporate differentiation resources designed to help teachers reach all learners, advancing the nonprofit’s mission to improve equity in K-12 education. Districts can select from a range of professional development options to support the adoption of the curricula. Open Up Resources distributes the materials in multiple digital formats, while also providing essential services, such as printing, to ease implementation.
“It’s our mission to ensure that every student in every part of the country has access to excellent curriculum, no matter the resources of their school district,” said Open Up Resources CEO Larry Singer. “We want every child to have access to superb materials, and every teacher to have access to the best professional learning opportunities. By making our curricula freely available, Open Up Resources allows districts to invest in their teachers without sacrificing instructional materials quality.”
With more than $14 million in support from philanthropic organizations, Open Up Resources partners with subject matter experts to bring best-in-class curriculum to school districts everywhere as free Open Educational Resources.
Hundreds of districts have been using and evaluating Open Up Resources’ first two offerings: Illustrative Mathematics Middle School Math and EL Education K–5 Language Arts. Wake County Public School System (NC), the 15th-largest district in the US, recently announced it will adopt the EL Education Language Arts curriculum.
Districts interested in previewing, piloting, or implementing the curricula should visit openupresources.org.
ABOUT OPEN UP RESOURCES
Open Up Resources is a nonprofit that develops the highest quality K-12 curricula available, and provides them to districts for free, as open educational resources, to promote instructional equity. Formerly the K–12 OER Collaborative, Open Up Resources partners with the country’s foremost materials experts to create superb instructional materials, then equips districts with the support they need to implement with fidelity. Its mission: to provide students with equal access to rigorous, standards-aligned materials, while easing adoption by districts.