The materials on EngageNY, the online library of common-core-aligned curricula hosted by New York state鈥檚 education department, have now been downloaded more than 45 million times, far surpassing many people鈥檚 expectations for the free resource created just five years ago.
But with the website鈥檚 federal funding source having all but dried up, a new group launched today is stepping in to further EngageNY鈥檚 mission. The organization, known as UnboundEd, plans to both build off of EngageNY鈥檚 success and tackle another problem that teachers are facing: Their students, especially those from low-income communities, aren鈥檛 prepared to meet the Common Core State Standards鈥� tough grade-level goals.
鈥淲hat we see as the biggest challenge in schools is managing a divide between rigorous high standards for all students and the real developmental consequences of poverty,鈥� said Kate Gerson, the managing partner for programs for the new nonprofit organization, and a former lead architect of EngageNY. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to give [teachers] the support to work through that divide.鈥�
The nonprofit UnboundEd will both host the new free website, populated with EngageNY鈥檚 and other K-12 common-core materials vetted by the team members, most of whom previously worked as classroom teachers, and provide paid in-person educator trainings. Of the 23 people now on staff, about a third came over from the EngageNY project.
The organization has raised more than $5 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Bloomberg Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, IBM, and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. (The Gates and Carnegie foundations support some coverage in 澳门跑狗论坛; the Helmsley Charitable Trust helps support its video capabilities.)
Currently, there are about 5,000 total lessons, modules, units, primary sources, and texts on the new site, which also went online today. While most of the curricula are from EngageNY, there are also some instructional materials from Illustrative Mathematics, a curriculum project led by common-core writer William McCallum. The UnboundEd team plans to add more open-source materials over time.
鈥淪ome folks need a comprehensive curriculum for the entire year, so we鈥檝e built an experience for them,鈥� said Alex Kasavin, the group鈥檚 director of product development. 鈥淪ome are looking for a lesson to teach this week or next week, and we鈥檝e built a different experience for them drawing on the same resources.鈥�
The site also has a series of guides meant to help teachers better understand what individual standards are really asking students to do, and what skills come before and after each grade-level benchmark.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e working with students living in poverty, most often they鈥檙e coming to you with parts of the [learning] progressions they鈥檝e missed in previous years,鈥� Gerson said. 鈥淭his gives very concrete examples and advice for what you do if you have a kid coming to you two or three years below grade level鈥攚hat lessons you insert, how you adapt the good, free curriculum to meet the needs of your kids.鈥�
鈥楲ike a Free Puppy鈥�
EngageNY, which was funded through New York state鈥檚 $700 million federal Race to the Top award in 2010 and launched the next year, has generated wide interest among teachers within and outside of the Empire State. The site has had more than 13 million users, according to the state鈥檚 education department. And a recent survey showed that 44 percent of elementary math teachers and 30 percent of secondary teachers in common-core states are using materials from EngageNY.
But the Race to the Top funding period has come to an end. (The state education department would not answer questions about other funding sources or how many people are still working on the EngageNY project.)
The website is still in wide use鈥攊n fact, New York鈥檚 education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia, announced the release of a 鈥淣ew EngageNY鈥� in January, which would include a redesign and better access on mobile devices. The state has also recently added some social studies materials to the site.
However, it鈥檚 unclear whether the reading and math materials will be updated or added to.
Jay Diskey, the executive director of the Association of American Publishers鈥� PreK-12 Learning Group, speaking generally about open educational resources, said updating materials is a must. 鈥淥ER is sometimes talked about as free beer, but in reality it鈥檚 more like a free puppy which one has to take care of over time.鈥�
The UnboundEd website is an effort to expand on the work done through EngageNY, and give it a fully funded new home.
A sometimes-cited criticism of EngageNY materials is that they weren鈥檛 built with proper supports for English-language learners, though some guidance on that topic was added after the fact. UnboundED will also launch without additional supports for ELLs, but Gerson said the group is working with experts on this and is 鈥渧ery devoted to including the scaffolds and supports for ELLS and students with special needs.鈥�
The designers of the new site also emphasize that they are not chasing downloads鈥攖he UnboundEd content will eventually be compatible with a variety of other platforms. 鈥淲e are not trying to be a replacement solution for learning-management systems and content-management systems and digital delivery tools,鈥� said Steve Midgley, the senior technical advisor on the project. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not trying to say we鈥檙e better than that. That鈥檚 a common narrative in the ed-tech space, but that鈥檚 not our narrative.鈥�
Instead, 鈥渙ur goal is to get these materials in the hands of as many teachers and in front of as many students as possible,鈥� said Gerson. And while the capability isn鈥檛 quite there yet, 鈥渨e want to meet teachers where they are right now, with whatever platform they are comfortable with.鈥�
There are other groups working to expand the availability of free, open instructional content as well. The K-12 OER Collaborative, for example, is a multistate effort that allows both educators and for-profit vendors to take and build on its educational resources.
However, as Diskey cautions, open materials can have some limitations and challenges. For instance, OER developers can sometimes have trouble obtaining copyright permissions. 鈥淟iterature selections, rights to a photo, a table, a map, a passage from another book鈥攖hese [permissions] must be secured if they鈥檙e copyrighted,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ducational publishers routinely know how to clear permissions. ... A number of OER developers have been unpleasantly surprised that they can鈥檛 find readily available images for free.鈥�
Teacher Trainings
In addition to offering free curriculum resources, UnboundEd is also putting on four- and five-day professional development 鈥渋nstitutes,鈥� which districts will pay to have representatives attend. About 1,000 teachers and administrators have already been trained through these institutes in Boston and Washington over the last year. This summer, the group expects to bring in about 700 additional educators.
The institutes undoubtedly emphasize particular philosophies on how the new standards should be taught. In English/language arts, the organization focuses on building background knowledge to improve reading comprehension鈥攁 notion also espoused by groups like Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit professional-development group founded by the lead writers of the common-core standards, and the Knowledge Matters campaign, inspired by retired professor E.D. Hirsch Jr.鈥檚 work.
Teachers learn to use text sets, or groups of readings around a single topic, to expose students to similar words repeatedly and help build vocabulary.
鈥淢y real big takeaway for reading was that the content knowledge we want [students] to gain should drive the reading strategies,鈥� said Lori Butterfield, the principal at Guilmette Elementary School in Lawrence, Mass., who attended a standards institute in February.
In math, teachers learn to focus on the most important concepts for each grade, even for students who come in below grade level. 鈥淭he way I was operating as a teacher, I would be reactive,鈥� said Megan Fehr, a 3rd grade teacher at Guilmette who also attended the institute. 鈥淚f kids came to me with some gaps from 2nd grade, I might spend a lot of time teaching standards from 2nd grade, to the detriment of 3rd grade.鈥� Now, she inserts a lesson here or there as needed, but continues to emphasize the grade-level concepts so her students don鈥檛 fall further behind.
UnboundEd will continue tweaking its website and professional development offerings as needed, the creators said. 鈥淥ur goal is to continue to get smarter as an organization about what teachers need to know how to implement these standards successfully,鈥� said Gerson.
