Back in 2008, the Ohio General Assembly mandated the creation of a “clearinghouse of interactive and other distance learning courses delivered by a computer-based method.” In 2013, the Ohio Department of Higher Education (then known as the Ohio Board of Regents) announced a “new online distance-learning web portal” that aimed to provide a “wealth of digital education tools, standards-based resources, curricula, texts, and Web-based courses.” Known as ilearnOhio, the clearinghouse offers standards-aligned, peer-reviewed digital media from multiple content providers, instructional support materials, assessment items, and professional development resources. Teachers can search for lessons and materials based on grade level, discipline, resource type, or Common Core standard. A recent piece in the Columbus Dispatch states that since July 1, more than 475,000 users have visited the site. The Dispatch also reports that Ohio State University—which operates the clearinghouse—estimated in a report last fall that approximately 82 percent of Ohio’s schools and districts have used the clearinghouse in some way, making it a “valuable component of the state’s educational infrastructure.”
So if the clearinghouse is a valuable tool for Ohio educators, why will it cease to exist this summer? The answer is a bit complicated. For starters, lawmakers didn’t include education department funding for it. The budget did provide funds to the department of higher education, which could theoretically be used to maintain the clearinghouse, but the Dispatch reports that the department believes “the clearinghouse hasn’t lived up to expectations.” The estimated number of folks using the site raises the question of what those expectations must have been. If it is proving useful to educators, surely improving it would be a better option than shuttering it. Unfortunately, the clearinghouse is also being investigated over a complicated mess of accusations, which may make ending it more logical than fixing it.
Despite the investigation and funding troubles, maintaining an online clearinghouse for teacher-created, standards-aligned materials may be in the best interests of the state. A recent study out of Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research found that the Common Core State Standards have greatly altered teachers’ processes for creating lesson plans and instructional materials. Within the report’s five study states (Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Nevada), 82 percent of math teachers and 72 percent of English language arts (ELA) teachers changed more than half of their instructional materials in order to align them with the standards.
These changes aren’t a bad thing. After all, more than two-thirds of principals said that they believed the standards would lead to improved student learning in the long run, and three out of four teachers reported that they’ve embraced the standards “quite a bit” or “fully.” But even with broad support, revising plans and materials requires massive personnel efforts. Implementation matters in any sector, but it’s particularly crucial in education because children’s futures hang in the balance. Common Core represents a great opportunity to raise the bar for students, but it also raises the bar for teachers—how they develop plans and materials and where they look to for guidance matters more than ever before.
According to the Harvard study, many of the surveyed teachers said they “tend to use materials they have developed themselves or materials developed by other staff at their schools.” 80 percent of ELA teachers and 72 percent of math teachers reported using these materials on at least a weekly basis. Teachers also reported using online sources like EngageNY, LearnZillion, Achievethecore.org, and the website of their state’s department of education. In the midst of misleading claims from textbook publishers about the alignment of their curricula to Common Core, teacher-created materials offer a promising remedy. A 2014 Fordham study found that districts that utilize homegrown materials enjoy more buy-in and ownership from teachers. But using these resources is also risky, because without the right amounts of time, training, and empowerment, teachers could be using plans and materials that aren’t up to snuff—and students could pay the price.
Teachers have a lot of responsibility and demands on their time already. But since homegrown materials have serious potential—and since, as the Harvard study suggests, a vast majority of teachers are using them anyway—it’s in schools’ best interests to make sure that teachers don’t waste their time working with low-quality materials or reinventing the wheel. On the other hand, evaluating materials and sharing high-quality resources requires capacity and time that individual teachers and most local districts may not be able to spare. It makes sense for the state to step in and take on that role, so long as it remains a gatekeeper of high-quality resources and not an enforcer mandating the use of certain materials.
It’s a shame that insufficient funding and alleged shady dealings are robbing Ohio teachers of a resource that could enhance student achievement and teacher quality. This is particularly true now that the Ohio Department of Education is about to begin updating the standards, which could create an additional need for instructional materials. While ilearnOhio seems to have reached the end of its days, it would be a smart move for policy makers or administrators at the Ohio Department of Education to either push for funding a new version of the clearinghouse or reevaluate whether it might be an asset worth saving. Ohio could use a platform that could build on the work of ilearnOhio and also take cues from other successful sites like EngageNY, LearnZillion, Achievethecore.org, teachingthecore.org, Teachers Pay Teachers, Share My Lesson, Better Lesson, and the Open Educational Resources Commons’ extensive library of free teaching and learning materials. Ohio teachers are committed to making rigorous standards the basis for their strong practice, and they deserve a clearinghouse that evaluates plans and materials, gives them an Ohio stamp of approval, and makes them readily available. It’s time to give them one.
