While open educational resources (OER) are often touted as
an important step in keeping the cost of course materials in line, finding quality materials can be a problem,
especially for K-12 instruction. Teachers surfing the web for individual lesson
plans is not really an ideal way to deliver excellent content.
“There’s more bad OER out there than good; that’s a fact,”
Rebecca Kockler, assistant superintendent of academic instruction for Louisiana,
said during a panel discussion at the recent SXSWedu conference. “We need to
find the quality stuff and elevate it for everyone.”
The Louisiana Department of Education has taken a
positive step in the right direction by making integrated curriculum available
on its website. The content is aligned with the state’s core standards and adaptable
to the needs of individual students, providing teachers with more time to just teach.
The
Louisiana approach also couples professional development for teachers with the sharing
of best practices and curricula, and it’s paying dividends. A 2017 study found
record growth in the high-school graduation rate and the rate of college
attendance. In addition, the research noted that state fourth-graders had the
highest learning gains in the nation in a national reading assessment test in
2015.
“Using
OER wasn’t our goal,” Kockler said. “Quality was our goal.