State Policies

Washington follows the Hewlett Foundation definition of OER that states: “OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.” The Washington K-12 OER bill clarifies that open courseware “allows others to use, distribute, and create derivative works based upon the digital material, while still allowing the authors to retain the copyright.”

In 2012, the state Legislature passed a bill to develop an OER Library of high-quality, openly licensed K-12 courseware that is aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and an associated awareness campaign to let districts know about these resources The OER library provides school districts with a broader selection of materials that can be updated more frequently than traditional textbooks. School districts can access the openly licensed courseware for free. Instead of purchasing or leasing instructional materials, use of OER creates the potential to move those funds into other areas of critical need like professional development or technology capacity.

As of August 2015, the Office of Public Instruction (OPSI) has conducted three OER review cycles. To date, 24 full-course mathematics curricula and 60 English language arts units have been evaluated by educators across the state. OPSI reviewed these open resources using nationally recognized review instruments and the same methodology as you would review any traditional instructional materials. In the 2015 OER Review Summary, reviewers found a number of resources in both mathematics and ELA that were well-aligned to the CCSS, and worthy of consideration by districts choosing instructional materials. OPSI provides this information to districts, but it does not endorse or require the adoption or use of any specific instructional materials by districts or schools.

Washington is participating in the K–12 OER Collaborative, which creates high-quality, comprehensive OER resources to support K-12 mathematics and English language arts. The K-12 Collaborative includes 12 states and several supporting organizations, including Learning Accelerator, CCSSO, Achieve, SETDA, and iNACOL.

Although Washington does not have guidelines or policies on the adoption or use of specific digital content, OSPI has worked with the Washington State School Directors Association on their newest model Instructional Materials Selection and Adoption Policy which recognizes both digital and open educational resources. This policy defines instructional materials as “all materials designed for use by students and their teachers as learning resources to help students to acquire facts, skills, and/or to develop cognitive processes. These instructional materials, used to help students meet state learning standards, may be printed or digital, and may include textbooks, technology-based materials, other educational media, and assessments. They may carry different licensing types from open to all rights reserved.” Washington does not have policies related to educator support for creation of digital content.

“Among the early adopters of OER in our state, the ability to distribute these OER digitally at next to no cost is critical in achieving the cost shifting cited as one of the huge benefits of OER.”
- Dennis Small, Washington Educational Technology Director, OSPI
The Legislature saw this as an opportunity to “provide districts and students with a broader selection of materials, and materials that are more up-to-date.

Guide to Quality Instructional Materials

State Policies