Organization: OPEN UP RESOURCES
Mission: TO INCREASE EQUITY IN EDUCATION BY MAKING EXCELLENT CURRICULA FREELY AVAILABLE TO DISTRICTS.
Activities: OPEN UP RESOURCES DEBUTED WITH A MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM AND AN ELEMENTARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS (ELA) PROGRAM, BOTH OF WHICH WERE RATED BEST IN CLASS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CATEGORIES ON EDREPORTS. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME COMPREHENSIVE, CORE CURRICULA THAT WERE FULLY OPEN WERE ALSO DEEMED HIGH QUALITY. OPEN UP RESOURCES DISRUPTED THE MARKET, PROVING THAT FREE AND HIGH QUALITY WERE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. TWO YEARS AFTER RELEASING ITS FIRST TWO CURRICULA, EDREPORTS NOW SHOWS 19 MATHEMATICS PROGRAMS AS HIGH QUALITY, WITH 15 OF THOSE IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL CATEGORY. IN ELEMENTARY ELA THERE ARE NOW 11 FULLY ALIGNED PROGRAMS. SCHOOL DISTRICT LEADERS AND TEACHERS NO LONGER STRUGGLE WITH A LACK OF OPTIONS FOR HIGH-QUALITY CCSS-ALIGNED MATERIALS. FURTHERMORE, BECAUSE OPEN UP RESOURCES PUBLISHES ITS CURRICULA OPENLY ON ITS WEBSITE, EDUCATORS ALSO NO LONGER STRUGGLE TO EASILY ACCESS THESE MATERIALS. AT THE END OF 2017, SIX MONTHS AFTER RELEASING ITS FIRST CURRICULUM, OPEN UP RESOURCES HAD REACHED AT LEAST 70,000 STUDENTS ACROSS 25 STATES. BECAUSE THE CURRICULUM IS OPEN, IT IS UNKNOWN PRECISELY HOW MANY EDUCATORS WERE ACCESSING THE MATERIALS NATIONALLY. TODAY, OPEN UP RESOURCES HAS REACHED AT LEAST ONE MILLION CHILDREN ACROSS THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. HIGH-POVERTY DISTRICTS LIKE SHELBY COUNTY (MEMPHIS), DETROIT, AND OAKLAND ARE AMONGST THE MORE THAN 1,300 SCHOOL DISTRICTS USING AN OPEN UP RESOURCES CURRICULUM.THE OPEN UP RESOURCES PORTFOLIO NOW INCLUDES 6-12 MATHEMATICS AND K-12 ELA. THE ORGANIZATION HAS BUILT A BUSINESS MODEL THAT ENABLES IT TO FUND THE NECESSARY DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTIZING OF NEW PROGRAMS AS WELL AS MAINTENANCE OF EXISTING PROGRAMS.
NTEE category: Education
Secondary category: Community Improvement & Capacity Building