Foundations Join to Offer Online Courses for Schools
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest philanthropy, and the foundation associated with Pearson, the giant textbook and school technology company, announced a partnership on Wednesday to create online courses on reading and math, aligned with the new academic standards that some 40 states have adopted in recent months.
The 24 new online courses will use video, interactive software, games, social media and other digital materials to present math lessons for kindergarten through 10th grade and English lessons for kindergarten through 12th grade, Pearson and Gates officials said.
The Gates Foundation, which has promoted the common core standards movement in its philanthropy, is providing $3 million so that four of the 24 online courses can be offered free to schools, partly to give educators a taste of how the online courses can be used in classrooms.
"We're hoping that by placing those online courses in a way that's accessible, people will take a look at them and make connections,"
said Mark Nieker, president of the Pearson Foundation.