Dive Brief:

• Over the course of three-months, OpenCurriculum created a 5,000-document database of a variety of math lesson plans, curriculums, and resources all aligned to the Common Core.  
• The creation of this library is in line with the Pittsburgh company's aim of creating a more open and rigorous K-12 learning environment.  
• If the math library proves to be successful and beneficial, the company will move forward to create libraries for other subjects — there are currently about 6,000 educators who use the site every month.

Dive Insight:

Often when we discuss technologies advancing classrooms we think of the computers and tablets students can now use, but another facet is the open source element that allows teachers to share resources and plans from across the globe. And OpenCurriculum is not alone in capitalizing on this. What does make them stand out is their decision to start small.

Founder and CEO Varun Arora told TechCrunch that getting it right in a single subject — mathematics — was important because the competition fails at a broad approach. It feels commendable that the company is taking its time rolling out subjects. This thoughtfulness is not always seen in the education arena, where everyone is trying to get their product into the classroom first, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out for the company.

For more on free resources for upgrading lesson plans, take a look at our recent feature.