Who owns educational products that are developed with public dollars, and the rights to distribute them?

This policy brief looks at policies that affect what scholars call the school improvement industry. It focuses on how products developed within this industry - many with development and use paid for by public schools and state or federal education agencies - are disseminated via open- or closed-source licensing.

The brief considers the ways these two forms may relate to the cost, quality, and adaptability of the tools and may reflect underlying issues of equity, expertise, and public vs. private action. Priorities for tracking such effects are identified, given limited documentation of which outcomes are most likely.