Late last year, the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), an organization that helps support state board leaders and provides education on a variety of issues, convened a forum of state board of education members and other state and national education leaders to discuss the role of the states in the adoption of instructional materials and what new opportunities exist, particularly with respect to open-licensed curriculum. This is particularly relevant in the context of state budget challenges, the common standards push, increased focus on technology, and copyright innovations like open licenses.
As a result of that forum, NASBE published the policy update “Rethinking the State Role in Instructional Materials Adoption: Opportunities for Innovation and Cost Savings.”
This report provides a good overview of the opportunities for OER in K-12, as well as summaries of what states like Indiana, California, and Texas are doing in this area. It is a valuable piece to share with policymakers, public officials, school administrators, educators, and others who could benefit from knowledge about OER in K-12 education.
The conclusions and recommendations in this report are insightful. Leadership attention to them bodes well for the potential of OER to bring real innovation to our schools.
Since NASBE’s link to this no longer seems to work, I’ve reposted this report here: http://www.k12opened.com/wiki/uploads/9/97/Instructional_Materials-3.pdf