K-12 OER Collaborative Launches Partnership with Illustrative Mathematics to Create Openly Licensed Middle School Math Materials

Posted on November 19, 2015

Cupertino, CA — November 19, 2015 — The K–12 OER Collaborative, an organization dedicated to increasing the quality and effectiveness of K–12 instructional materials while substantially reducing their cost to school districts nationwide, today announced it is starting its next phase of work in creating full-course materials. The Collaborative is launching a partnership with Illustrative Mathematics, a leading mathematics content developer, to create high-quality, openly licensed middle school math core curriculum.

"We are excited to move into full-course content development with Illustrative Mathematics as our launch partner,” said Larry Singer, CEO of The K-12 OER Collaborative. “Illustrative Mathematics founder William McCallum and his team offer the expertise and background which make them a perfect fit to help us create engaging, aligned, and quality materials for America’s middle school students.”

The K-12 OER Collaborative issued a Request For Proposals in November 2014. In February 2015, after a rigorous review process, it selected 10 content developers to create rapid prototype units across all K-12 grade bands in English language arts and mathematics. In June 2015, a group of experienced educators and state content leads convened to conduct a review of the units against Achieve’s EQuIP rubric as well as a review for accessibility, technology specifications, and bias. This process allowed the Collaborative to identify content developers that could create high-quality open resources that schools could use as their core curriculum, aligned to college and career readiness standards.

“The prototype materials Illustrative Mathematics created as part of our RFP process were simply excellent and exactly the type of instructional content we want to offer to educators and students,” stated Singer. “We believe this partnership will result in an exceptional option for school districts looking for a new model of instructional materials for their students."

The Collaborative is announcing that it will start development with middle school mathematics, and that Illustrative Mathematics will be the lead developer for this work.Illustrative Mathematics is led by William McCallum, one of the lead authors of the Common Core mathematics standards. Their prototype unit was rated “exemplar” on the the EQuIP review.  “We are honored to be selected as the mathematics lead developer for the K–12 OER Collaborative,” said William McCallum, CEO of Illustrative Mathematics. “We are eager to bring our expertise in mathematics and pedagogy to the task of building an excellent and coherent curriculum that will support teachers in helping today’s students learn the skills and concepts they need.”

The Collaborative expects to begin piloting its materials for the 2016-17 academic year.

For more information, please contact Jennifer Wolfe at 415.640.5110 or at    jennifer.wolfe@learningaccelerator.org

The K–12 OER Collaborative is made up of a group of 10 states and numerous nonprofits, with the goal of creating free resources designed to enable all students to master foundational skills and knowledge to achieve college and career readiness. States in the collaborative include California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin, and Washington.  For more information please visit www.k12oercollaborative.org.

Illustrative Mathematics is a discerning community of educators dedicated to the coherent learning of mathematics. They collaborate at illustrativemathematics.org, sharing carefully vetted resources for teachers and teacher leaders to give children an understanding of mathematics and skill in using it. They provide expert guidance to states, districts, curriculum writers, and assessment writers working to improve mathematics education.