EdGate Powers Podcast #8 - with Dr. Kelli Erwin
Standards alignment is more than a requirement publishers have to check off before bringing curriculum to market. For Learning.com, it is an ongoing part of understanding what customers need, preparing for changes in state standards, and determining where existing content falls short. When a company serves states across the country as well as international markets, the challenge is not simply knowing what the standards say; it is having the tools and processes to work with those standards efficiently and make the resulting information useful.
In this episode of the EdGate Powers Education Podcast, Rich Portelance speaks with Dr. Kelli Erwin, Director of Education at Learning.com, about how her team approaches the complexities of standards alignment across multiple markets. Erwin explains how crosswalking helps Learning.com use existing alignments as a starting point rather than manually rebuilding them for every state, while the ExACT Platform's Gap Analysis tool gives the team a clearer picture of where its curriculum does and does not meet specific standards. She also shares how these capabilities have helped the company prepare for proposed standards changes, including identifying potential gaps in its content before new Texas standards were implemented.
The conversation goes beyond the mechanics of alignment to examine how standards information feeds into the broader work of developing and supporting educational products. Erwin discusses the role of metadata in helping customers access detailed standards information, the value of Direct Align when a state adoption requires an exact connection between a content item and a standard, and how Learning.com developed its own objectives to create a common framework for assessing digital literacy skills across different standards systems. She also describes how conversations with districts and other stakeholders led Learning.com to develop a digital safety learning pathway addressing CIPA requirements, cyberbullying, online safety, and digital citizenship, showing how standards knowledge and customer feedback can work together to shape what a company builds.
In this episode, you will learn:
- How crosswalking can reduce the manual work involved in aligning curriculum across multiple states and international markets.
- How the Gap Analysis tool helps publishers identify where existing content does not fully address individual standards.
- Why proposed standards can be useful to examine before they are officially implemented.
- How metadata gives publishers and their customers more detailed information about standards, grades, and student expectations.
- Why precise, item-level alignment becomes especially important during state adoption reviews.
- How Learning.com created its own overarching objectives by examining commonalities across state and international standards.
- How customer and market feedback can influence the development of new instructional resources.
- How standards alignment can support reporting, RFPs, sales conversations, and broader product development.
Why This Conversation Matters
Standards do not change on the same schedule from state to state, and publishers may need to respond to new requirements in several different markets at once. Learning.com’s experience illustrates why having access to organized, current standards information can make it easier to understand those differences and respond when an opportunity or requirement emerges. Rather than expecting a small instructional design team to maintain deep expertise in every standards system, the right tools can give them a practical way to find the information they need when they need it.
There is also a larger opportunity in treating alignment information as something more useful than a report generated for compliance. Learning.com uses alignment and gap data to inform curriculum decisions, while customer conversations help the team identify needs that may not be captured by standards alone. That combination can help publishers anticipate where their products need to evolve, whether they are responding to a new state requirement, preparing for an adoption, or developing resources around skills such as digital citizenship and online safety.
Join Rich and Dr. Kelli Erwin as they explore how publishers can make the complex work of standards alignment more manageable, turn alignment data into practical product insights, and respond to changing requirements without rebuilding their processes from the ground up. Their conversation offers a look at how standards, technology, customer feedback, and curriculum development can work together to help education companies stay prepared for what comes next.
Learn what education publishers should know before and while aligning content to U.S. state standards.
With over 20 years of experience specializing in education, Dr. Kelli Erwin, Ed.D., brings unique and informed perspectives to Learning.com and its goals. Having previously worked as a classroom teacher, an instructional IT specialist, and a district administrator, Dr. Erwin helps Learning.com thrive as a business and as an integral resource for educators.
As the Director of Revenue Enablement for Learning.com, Dr. Erwin combines her background and customer-facing strategies for the benefit of all publishers.
Rich is passionate about eEdTech and helping people discover pathways to successful careers. He leverages his many years of business experience in strategy, product development, brand creation, and sales & marketing as a frequent industry speaker and sought-after consultant.
Beginning his career in digital marketing and web development, Rich was recruited into the private, independent school market to help usher in digital technologies and social media. During this time, Richard served as a student advisor and was nominated to serve on the CAIS (Connecticut Association of Independent Schools) Technology Commission. In 2012, Rich joined York & Chapel, a brand and digital transformation agency where he began working with secondary and higher ed clients, developing strategies for student engagement and pathway creation. In 2014, Richard founded CareerPath, a SaaS engagement platform. Over the past ten years, Rich has given back to the industry as an advisor to numerous EdTech startups, and generally has had a blast doing what he loves to do — help others succeed.
Questions Answered
During the podcast, we tackle critical questions that education publishers should know the answers to before entering states' markets.
- How does crosswalking standards help publishers align curriculum across different states and markets?
- How does Learning.com use Gap Analysis Reports to identify curriculum gaps and prepare for new standards?
- How do open standards and GUIDs benefit Learning.com and its customers?
- How has the standards landscape changed, and how is Learning.com adapting to changes across different states?
- How does Learning.com manage changes to Texas standards, IMRA, and suitability requirements?
- How does Learning.com balance meeting education standards and requirements with growing its business?
- How does Learning.com use metadata to support standards alignment and provide standards information to customers?
- How much adjustment does Learning.com need when aligning its curriculum to standards in new states?
- What is the ExACT Platform’s Direct Align tool, and how does Learning.com use it for precise standards alignment?
- How does Learning.com use ExACT and Direct Align to work with international standards?
- How does Learning.com use standards authoring and its own objectives within ExACT?
- How does Learning.com use standards alignment to report compliance with CIPA requirements?