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Disappointed by existing English/language arts curricula that were supposedly aligned to the Common Core State Standards, officials at the Louisiana education department decided to enlist teachers and create a homegrown program鈥攁 move that鈥檚 less than typical for a state-level overseer.

鈥淭here were some [common-core] programs with real strengths for sure, but none that were meeting our bar,鈥� said Rebecca Kockler, the assistant superintendent of academic content at the Louisiana Department of 91制片厂视频. 鈥淲e felt we had no choice.鈥�

The state eventually partnered with LearnZillion, a website with common-core resources that are also created by teachers, to give the curriculum a user-friendly, web-based platform鈥攁nd also make it open to the public. About 70 percent of Louisiana school districts are expected to implement the new curriculum in at least some grades, and some say it鈥檚 likely the program will be well-used outside the state, too.

And while Louisiana officials don鈥檛 necessarily recommend that other states go through the time-consuming and laborious process of developing and piloting their own curricula, some experts say states should begin playing a larger role in aggregating and steering teachers toward coherent, high-quality materials outside the traditional textbook realm.

Publishers have 鈥渋n many cases, been relentless about an unwillingness to change and a desire for maximizing profits on old materials that are not helping students,鈥� John White, Louisiana鈥檚 state superintendent of education, said at a recent panel on curriculum in Washington. 鈥淚 do think states can be doing more.鈥�

While more than 40 states are now using the common-core standards, New York is the only other state that has created its own comprehensive common-core curriculum and made it freely available online. Unlike Louisiana, though, New York鈥檚 materials were developed for the state by outside publishers. The resulting EngageNY curriculum library has proven popular: Its resources have been downloaded more than 45 million times by teachers all over the country.

鈥淓ngageNY was the first datapoint in this recognition that the publishers aren鈥檛 really the publishers anymore鈥攖hat really states and districts can be the publishers,鈥� said Eric Westendorf, the CEO and co-founder of LearnZillion. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e realizing, 鈥榃e can publish something that is more powerful than what we would buy off the shelf.鈥欌��

The District of Columbia also worked with its teachers to create a common-core program for ELA several years ago, and officials there said they鈥檙e working on making that one open to the public as well.

However, Jay Diskey, the executive director of the Association of American Publishers鈥� pre-K-12 learning group, said states and districts are likely to need outside support on this work, and publishing companies are already personalizing their curricular offerings for individual states and districts. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think any of these older, bigger companies consider themselves to be textbook companies at all anymore,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been doing custom projects for school districts for quite some time.鈥�

From 1.0 to 2.0

Louisiana adopted the common core in 2010 and began implementing it two years later. The department analyzed available ELA programs and, 鈥渁t that time, we had not found anything through our review process that we would want in all our teachers鈥� classrooms,鈥� said Kockler.

The state pulled together some basic K-12 ELA frameworks, which included groups of texts, sample tasks, and writing prompts, but weren鈥檛 very detailed. 鈥淲e have a small team, we didn鈥檛 have funding for this,鈥� said Kockler. 鈥淲e knew that was not going to be sufficient, so we began working on building out to the unit level.鈥�

The department then gathered about 30 teachers to help write more fleshed-out units, which were published in April 2014.

These so-called 鈥済uidebooks鈥� had much more content, but teachers said they were difficult to use. Those resources 鈥渨ere better than anything I鈥檝e ever seen any state do,鈥� said Emily Howell, an English teacher in the Lincoln Parish school district in Ruston, La. 鈥淏ut they were just tasks. Teachers were still having trouble on a daily basis figuring out what do I do so students can complete these tasks.鈥�

So the department linked up with LearnZillion, which procured $850,000 in funding from groups including the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and the Hewlett Foundation, to help fully build out the program for grades 3-12 and to put the units in a cloud-based platform. (The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust also helps support development of video capacity for 91制片厂视频 Week.)

Guidebooks 2.0 was released in May. As of now, there are between one and four units for each grade level, and each unit includes 30 to 50 individual lessons. The units adhere to Louisiana鈥檚 standards, which are based on the common core, but address a variety of subjects. Students study topics from the American Revolution to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to Steve Jobs.

鈥淭eachers wanted handouts, they needed instructions, they needed text exemplars, they needed to see what work should look like,鈥� said Howell, who wrote the 9th grade units on 鈥淩omeo and Juliet鈥� and 鈥淭he Odyssey鈥�, which were reviewed by the teacher 鈥渄ream team鈥� at LearnZillion, for the second iteration of the guidebooks. 鈥�2.0 has all of that.鈥�

The curriculum was piloted in about 150 classrooms across the state by teachers who weren鈥檛 involved in its development.

Lesley Vines, an ELA teacher in the Sabine Parish school district in Many, La., was among the teachers who piloted the program. 鈥淚 was a little intimidated at first because ... I鈥檝e been teaching for 16 years and always had a basal reader where students read a story and then answered questions,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is so different. It鈥檚 such a variety of texts. Nonfiction and fiction texts are incorporated into every section.鈥�

Students read a mixture of full novels and text selections. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e on the right track,鈥� Vines said. 鈥淭he growth in my students this year was just tremendous.鈥�

Schools aren鈥檛 likely to save much money with the new curriculum (compared to using textbooks) since they have to purchase the novels and print out the other materials, said Kockler.

The curriculum is quite prescriptive鈥攖he lessons include precise wording for how teachers should give directions and what questions they should ask students. But the developers emphasize that teachers aren鈥檛 required to do any of it. 鈥淭hese are suggestions,鈥� said Howell. 鈥淭hese are things to help you. If you look at it that way you don鈥檛 have to feel like someone鈥檚 telling you what to do.鈥�

鈥楢 Wild West Situation鈥�

While traditional textbooks still represent a huge market, there鈥檚 evidence that the ways teachers are using instructional materials is changing.

A recent RAND study found that nearly all ELA teachers in common-core states are using materials they developed or selected themselves in at least some capacity. About one-third of ELA teachers in those states are using the EngageNY materials.

And teachers looking for resources online are most likely going to websites such as Google, Pinterest, and TeachersPayTeachers.com, the study found.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing in the market is this idea that content isn鈥檛 a scarce resource anymore,鈥� said Westendorf of LearnZillion. Even teachers whose schools have adopted a defined curriculum are often supplementing or replacing with materials they find online.

And while the proliferation of content is a positive, some say it also creates a major problem: Teachers are more likely to use individual lesson plans rather than a comprehensive, yearlong curricula that builds on itself. 鈥淭he internet is empowering teachers, but it鈥檚 a Wild West situation,鈥� said Westendorf. 鈥淪tates and districts are saying ... if we don鈥檛 get our act together, we鈥檙e not going to get great results.鈥�

That was part of the impetus for the Louisiana project鈥攖o give teachers something digital, accessible, and teacher-created that they were likely to use in full.

That鈥檚 also why more states may start taking cues from Louisiana鈥攏ot necessarily about creating a curriculum from scratch, but about aggregating and packaging digital materials that work for their own teachers.

鈥淭o be honest, I don鈥檛 think other states should create their own curriculum if they don鈥檛 have to. It takes a lot of time,鈥� said Kockler. 鈥淚 do think states should take the time to help districts identify quality [materials].鈥�

States could easily mix and match units鈥攖aking some from Louisiana and some from other sources鈥攁nd pull together a curriculum that鈥檚 specific to their state needs, said Westendorf.

The District of Columbia school system is currently seeking funding to get its own curriculum on an open-source platform like the one LearnZillion provides. Currently, the curriculum is in Microsoft Word documents and zip files.

鈥淚n ELA, I think you鈥檙e going to see a more vibrant sharing of resources,鈥� said Brian Pick, the chief of teaching and learning for the District of Columbia public schools. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 actually think you鈥檙e going to see more people building from scratch, because there are increasingly high-quality materials out there. But I do think you鈥檙e going to see more assembly of a coherent curriculum strategy.鈥�