The Pearson Foundation has announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create a complete, foundational system of digital instructional resources built around the Common Core State Standards.
Over the next three years, the Pearson Foundation will develop 24 courses covering math for grades K-10 and reading/English language arts for grades K-12. The courses will enable teachers and students to access the latest and most effective digital learning technologies as they prepare to meet the internationally benchmarked college readiness goals of the Common Core Standards. The courses will be developed to increase student engagement and will focus on the essential understanding of the concepts that inform Math and Language Arts. The key learning behaviors of collaboration, the appropriate use of technology, and real-world engagement—that educators agree are already defining college and workforce success—are integrated with the content.”
Complementing the instructional system, additional resources may also be developed including those from third-party curriculum providers whose solutions offer the greatest potential for student success. The courses will be made available in 2013, before the Common Core Standards are implemented. Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support four courses to be offered as free, open educational resources, with the intent of widening access and spurring innovation around the Common Core.
Pearson, one of the nation’s leading education technology companies, will offer these courses to school districts, complete with new services for in-person professional development for teacher transition to the Common Core and next generation assessment. The Pearson Foundation will also work with other partners to explore opportunities for additional commercial development and distribution.
For more information, see: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110427005250/en/Pearson-Foundation-Partners-Bill-Melinda-Gates-Foundation.
