Open Education 2017

In October of 2015, state and district leaders from around the country gathered at the White House to announce their intention to "Go Open." The districts in attendance pledged to replace at least one set of course materials with open educational resources, while state leaders committed to supporting district work and work to establish infrastructure for sharing OER.

Just two years later, this work has grown into a diverse movement of state and district education leaders across the country who are exploring OER as a potential solution to shortcomings in the marketplace for PreK-12 curricular materials. These leaders are identifying teachers who are already using OER in the classroom, integrating OER into existing processes for curriculum selection, and leveraging OER to fill existing gaps in resources.

Lindsey Tepe, senior policy analyst at New America, will provide an overview of state and district work, covered in a forthcoming policy paper to be released in summer 2017. Kristina Peters, K-12 Open Education Fellow with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology, will highlight implementation of PreK-12 OER at the district level. Erika Aparaka, OER Fellow with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), will provide insight into future directions for state work and the potential for state collaboration around OER.