Well-Rounded Access Program (WRAP)

The Well-Rounded Access Program Update is the Oregon Department of Education’s (ODE) primary communication tool for topics related to the Well Rounded Access Program (WRAP).  In October 2020, Oregon received a five-year, $9.8 million grant to expand access to well-rounded education courses.  More information about this program can be found on ODE’s Expanding Access to Well-Rounded Education webpage.

WRAP Specific Update

The Well-Rounded Access Program (WRAP) finished evaluating the Needs Assessment and is moving into the implementation phase, which will focus on three key areas of support: Course Development, Course Access Structures, and Communication. 

Course Development:

Through engagement and data analysis, the WRAP team determined that many well-rounded courses already exist statewide, and educator access to course materials are not the main contributing factor to well-rounded course access for students.  However, the WRAP team identified content areas that would benefit from expansion of already existing content or development of new content and is pursuing this in the following areas:

• Expansion of 9th Grade Computer Science Course
• Expansion of STEAM-based High School Physics, Chemistry, and Biology Courses
• K-5 Arts & Social Emotional Learning Series of Courses
• Native Arts Lesson Plans
• Middle School/High School Arts Content on Oregon Open Learning
• Arts Instructional Materials Curation 
• Elementary STEAM Content on Oregon Open Learning

Course Access Structures:

During initial engagement sessions, it became clear that making content available does not necessarily make content accessible.  The following activities have been developed to support the accessibility of well-rounded courses:

• Alignment with Oregon Open Learning
• Alignment with Oregon Digital Learning
• Accessibility to Accurate Data
• Implementation of Data Practices that Address the Whole Child
• Provision of Professional Development for Content

Communication:

Finally, the WRAP determined that communications held a critical role with increasing access, and has proposed the following activities:

• Social Media Templates/Content
• Arts and STEAM Toolkits/ Best Practice Guidance and Training Series
• Funding Resources
• Share Student Work
• Connect 1:1 with Schools that have No Access
• Newsletter
• Internal ODE Learning Sessions
• Conference Presentations

Oregon Open Learning

Members of the Digital Learning Team at ODE had the pleasure of connecting with Nesara Shree, an Oregon student. Nesara reached out to ODE after experiencing the AI4ALL Bytes of AI curriculum during a summer program. Bytes of AI is a series of openly licensed lesson plans developed by AI4ALL.org that serves as an entry point for students to learn about artificial intelligence (AI). Nesara is passionate about these resources being shared with other students throughout Oregon because of the increasing impact that AI has, and is expected to have across many industries. She believes that student awareness of AI is crucial to ensuring that our communities are informed and able to influence how AI shapes our future. Read on to hear from Nesara about the importance of AI education for all students. 

The openly licensed AI4ALL Bytes of AI lessons are now available on the Oregon Open Learning Hub:

AI & Drawing AI & Facial Recognition AI & the Environment AI & the Criminal Legal System AI & Dance AI & COVID-19 AI & Ethics

Oregon STEM

Oregon STEM is an Oregon-based non-profit organization that collectively addresses the management of statewide efforts for communication and advocacy, data and evaluation, and community engagement, relying on individual STEM and STEAM Hubs within the Oregon STEM Hub network to lead regional initiatives and build local partnerships through collective impact.

To learn more about Oregon STEM, visit their website or reach out to them at info@oregon-stem.org. 

For questions or comments, please email ODE.WRCoursesGrant@ode.state.or.us.  To subscribe to this or other State Government newsletters, please visit the GovDelivery website.  You can access this topic by scrolling to the Professional Learning Topic and selecting Well-Rounded Courses Access.  

ODE’s Equity Stance: Education equity is the equitable implementation of policy, practices, procedures, and legislation that translates into resource allocation, education rigor, and opportunities for historically and currently marginalized youth, students, and families including civil rights protected classes. This means the restructuring and dismantling of systems and institutions that create the dichotomy of beneficiaries and the oppressed and marginalized. To find out more about ODE’s work in education equity, please visit ODE’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion website.