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Federal officials are trying to build participation in an online information network designed to organize and vet academic content for educators, a tool meant to free them from having to go through time-consuming, site-by-site searches for materials.

The U.S. Department of Education and other entities have been working on the network, known as the Learning Registry, for two years, though they say they only recently finished the computer code for the system. The agency has spent about $1 million on the project so far.

The registry has no single website. Instead, it鈥檚 designed to work like an online highway or a network of roads that brings content to educators at the home pages they鈥檙e already using to find resources鈥攕ites that need only to tap into the system.

Whether the registry evolves into a prized tool for the K-12 community, or one that fades into online obscurity, remains to be seen.

Education Department officials are trying to increase participation in the registry among content providers and publishers who can feed academic materials into the system鈥攁nd among educators and others who will use the network and help their peers distinguish good resources from weak ones.

Attempts to guide educators to online resources too often have focused on 鈥渓et鈥檚 make these big content libraries ... let鈥檚 create this one portal, this one location,鈥� said Richard Culatta, the director of the department鈥檚 office of educational technology. When the question 鈥渉ow do we make it easier鈥� for educators was asked, he said, the response too often was 鈥淥h, I know, let鈥檚 create another portal!鈥�

But for teachers, the problem usually is not finding classroom materials, it鈥檚 that 鈥渢here are 700, and you need one,鈥� Mr. Culatta said. The registry, he said, is meant to help educators figure out 鈥渨hat鈥檚 the best one for the kids I鈥檓 teaching, at the time I鈥檓 teaching, at the level I鈥檓 teaching.鈥�

The registry was built to receive all content, including materials from commercial providers, so some of what it houses may not be free, though the vast majority is likely to be, said Steve Midgley, a senior adviser at the department who has worked on the system.

Refined Searches

Online visitors looking for a single home website for the Learning Registry won鈥檛 find one. Instead, it鈥檚 accessed through any of the individual home pages that arrange to tap into it, such as free.ed.gov, where educators could begin their search for resources.

One of the big goals of the registry is to allow educators to avoid going through a cumbersome, site-by-site search for resources, and allow them instead to tap into a library of materials, which have been rated by peers and other trusted sources, that can be accessed through the websites already familiar to them.

A diverse mix of sources鈥攇overnment agencies, nonprofits, or commercial publishers鈥攃an contribute resources to the registry, the department says. That means no one controls what resources are initially put into it. About 500 unique publishers have brought resources to the system so far, including the National Science Digital Library, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian.

The managers of individual websites that tap into the registry鈥攚hich could include state departments of education or online networks of educators鈥攄etermine what information they will present to their audiences, whether they鈥檙e high school biology teachers, middle school math curriculum specialists, elementary school principals, or others.

Existing websites can use the registry by establishing application-programming interfaces, a common strategy for pulling data from one site to another, Mr. Culatta said.

Whether online users are directed to free or for-cost materials through the registry will depend on the sorting done by the individual websites that those audiences are using to link to the system, Mr. Midgley said.

While the Education Department oversees the registry, the U.S. Department of Defense also supported its development, and other federal agencies contributed, too. In addition to the Education Department鈥檚 investment in the site, a private entity, Amazon Web Services, hosts it and has spent $20,000 on it, the department estimates.

The success of the system will depend in large part on educators鈥� ability to find materials that meet their classroom-specific needs鈥搑esources that the registry will be able to deliver, Mr. Culatta argued.

He recently cited an example of a 5th grade science teacher leading a class with a lot of English-language learners. Rather than doing an ad hoc online search for appropriate lessons, the teacher would connect to the registry from a site he or she uses now and secure access to lesson materials vetted by educators working with similar populations.

Federal officials also see larger-scale payoffs.

Individual states are collecting resources they believe are aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Hypothetically, if 50 states each cobbled together 100 of those aligned materials and shared them through the registry, teachers connecting to it could access a menu of 5,000 aligned resources from their keyboards, tailored to their specific needs, Mr. Culatta said. (All but four states have adopted the common standards.)

Potential Barriers

Mark Schneiderman, the senior director of education policy for the Washington-based Software and Information Industry Association, which represents software and digital-content providers, said his organization is supportive of the registry. But he questioned the system鈥檚 long-term viability, and said that its success would hinge partly on educators鈥� and others鈥� ability to make sense of it and promote it among colleagues and peers鈥攚hich are not sure bets.

鈥淚s it going to be sustained, supported, and implemented?鈥� Mr. Schneiderman said. 鈥淭he jury鈥檚 still out.鈥�

Mr. Midgley of the Education Department cited several factors that he believes will give the registry a lasting presence. One is technological: The system does not rely on a central server, but rather functions in a way that鈥檚 more comparable to an email network鈥攁 model that should encourage growth within the community of users, he argued.

In addition, the interest in the registry outside the federal government, and the sharing among some current users of it, including states, suggest that there鈥檚 a K-12 network keen on keeping it vibrant, he said.

Eventually, the Education Department hopes to become just 鈥渙ne of many supporters鈥� of the system, Mr. Midgley said.

The power of the registry鈥攁nd one of the biggest challenges it faces鈥攊s not its ability to provide 鈥渕etadata,鈥� or basic information on the resources it contains, but how it will present 鈥減aradata,鈥� such as shared reviews and educator opinions of academic content鈥檚 usefulness, said Steve Nordmark, the chief academic officer of Knovation Inc., a Cincinnati-based provider on online personalized learning and other services to districts.

In theory, that system could be comparable to the comments and recommendations consumers can post on Amazon.com, Mr. Nordmark said.

But it will be important for designers and users of the registry to agree on standards for those reviews that allow 鈥渁pples-to-apples鈥� comparisons of learning resources, he added.

As it stands now, the registry鈥檚 technology 鈥渋s still pretty green,鈥� Mr. Nordmark said. The challenge, he explained, is to make the registry 鈥渟o drop-dead easy anybody could run with it.鈥�

One barrier to commercial providers鈥� participation in the registry is their fear of giving away too much content they鈥檝e spent money developing, Mr. Schneiderman said. In addition, academic materials are sometimes packaged in comprehensive ways that make it difficult to present them as 鈥渇inite pieces of content鈥� through the registry, he noted.

He drew an analogy to how music today is created and then delivered to consumers. In some cases, the registry may work 鈥渂etter for songs,鈥� he said. 鈥淢ost commercial publishers are publishing albums, or CDs.鈥�

But assuming the flow of content is strong, the system will also rely on the willingness of teachers and experts on various academic subjects to help their peers sort through its materials鈥攁nd offer recommendations on what鈥檚 valuable, and what鈥檚 not, the Education Department鈥檚 Mr. Culatta said.

There鈥檚 a need for more 鈥渆xpert curation,鈥� he said. The process of winnowing and organizing the offerings, he said, creates an environment 鈥渨here [the best] resources rise to the top.鈥�