Vetting
Each district determines what they use as instructional materials. This includes OER. Five school districts in Washington State were awarded Open Educational Resources (OER) grants to help support district adaptation and implementation of openly licensed educational material aligned with state standards. All content created or modified with Washington OER grant funds is openly licensed and available to everyone. Spokane Public Schools was one of the districts to receive grant funding, and they are highlighted in this case study.
In this instance, Spokane did not go through the traditional instructional materials adoption process. In December 2013, the school board approved the use of EngageNY OER math materials as the interim math curriculum for K-8 students. At this time, the school board did not believe that book publishers had developed a math curriculum that aligned to the Common Core State Standards adopted by Washington and 45 other states. The following is an approved list of instructional materials, including OER: Middle School Textbooks/Materials.
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“”The ability to modify materials to meet the needs of districts’ student populations is one of the most powerful and empowering features of OER. Use of open resources also creates the potential for districts to shift funding from textbook purchases to other critical areas of need like professional development or increasing technology capacity at schools.”
- Barbara Soots, Washington Open Educational Resources Program Manager