Well-Rounded Access Program (WRAP) Overview
Extending the promise of a well-rounded education is one of the commitments that serve as a pillar of Oregon’s Consolidated State Plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act. In October 2020, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) a 5-Year, $9.8 Million competitive grant known as the Expanding Access to Well-Rounded Courses (Course Access) grant.
Oregon’s proposal for the grant funding focused on expanding access to arts-specific and STEAM-related courses. To carry out the requirements of this grant, ODE formed the Well-Rounded Access Program (WRAP).
Announcements
New Arts Access Toolkit from the Oregon Department of Education
The Well-Rounded Access Program (WRAP) at the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) is excited to announce the release of new resources to support arts programs across the state. The Arts Access Toolkit is part of an initiative to increase access for Oregon students to arts and STEM/STEAM learning opportunities. The toolkit is organized into a digital collection, highlighting both agency developed and external resources to assist schools and districts in offering and sustaining high quality, standards-aligned arts programs.
ODE invited administrators, educators, teaching artists, arts organizations, and all school staff, families, and community members interested in arts education to join us last June to learn more about the Arts Access Toolkit. You can find recordings of these sessions on the Arts Access Toolkit site.
WRAP Courses & Partnerships
WRAP courses and professional learning opportunities offered in the 2023-24 school year:
- High School Science for All (Patterns Science) - A three year course pathway and curriculum aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The sequence consists of freshman physics, sophomore chemistry, and junior biology courses. Each course utilizes common instructional strategies, real world phenomena, and design challenges to engage students and support their learning.
Whether you are currently using the Patterns approach/curriculum or you are new to this method and content, virtual professional learning opportunities provide a great foundation for teachers interested in utilizing the open source curriculum and associated instructional strategies. Click here to register online or learn more about these paid professional learning offerings.
- Arts, Care & Connection - A free, high quality arts and social-emotional learning lessons for K-5 students for classroom teachers developed by Arts for Learning NW. Select school districts are currently piloting the Arts, Care & Connection content. A statewide rollout of the course content will be available for the 2024-25 school year including professional development opportunities for elementary classroom teachers and teaching artists (TBD)!
More information, including future opportunities for professional learning, can be found on the ODE Arts Education Resources webpage.
- Well-Rounded Computer Science - A
partnership with Oregon universities to deliver Exploring Computer Science, a research-based, well-rounded course in
Oregon high schools; support administrative and counselor capacity to provide
and sustain the offerings; and develop a data foundation to work towards
continuous and systemic improvement.
Course content in development for the 2024-25 school year:
More exciting WRAP courses and partnerships will be announced soon!
- WRAP & High School Science for All (Patterns Science) Partnership
The Oregon Department of Education is excited to partner with the Portland-Metro STEM Partnership (PMSP) and the Greater Oregon STEM Hub (GO STEM) to expand access to Patterns Science through the High School Science for All program. This program was designed to increase student access to science courses by providing an openly licensed, vertically articulated curriculum that has potential to align district pathways for students' science course taking. The goals of this partnership include updating the curriculum and its online capacity and expanding professional development and use of the curriculum, focusing modifications to the relevance and useability for rural areas of the state.
- WRAP & Arts, Care & Connection Partnership
The Oregon Department of Education is partnering with Arts for Learning Northwest to design an Arts, Care & Connection program, offering free K-5 arts integration lessons and professional learning for teachers. These lessons will create high quality arts and social emotional learning opportunities for elementary students during the school day, and will be available statewide in the 2024-2025 school year. This work is done in partnership with ODE’s Care and Connection campaign and will integrate ODE's recently adopted Oregon’s Transformative SEL Framework & Standards. For more information about this program, visit ODE Arts Education Resources.
WRAP-Developed Resources for Educators
- Arts Access Toolkit - A collection of resources to assist educators, schools, and districts to offer and sustain high quality, standards-aligned arts programs.
- Guide: Funding Well-Rounded Learning - A guide for School Administrators providing an overview of federal funding sources including Title, Perkins, and IDEA funding that can be used to support well-rounded learning opportunities.
- Webinar Recording: Funding Well-Rounded Learning - The Well-Rounded Access Program hosted a How to Support Well-Rounded Opportunities with Federal Funds webinar in October 2022. Participants received an overview of federal funding sources including Title, Perkins, and IDEA funding. View the presentation as a PDF
Stay in Touch
For more information please contact the Well-Rounded Courses Grant Team. You can also sign up for the WRAP Newsletter to receive regular updates or check out our Newsletter Archive below:
Past Newsletters