Open Making and Building Standard (OMBS)

A research-grounded, openly licensed standard describing what it means to make and build well — across grade bands, mediums, and domains.

Status: Draft v0.2.0 (May 2026) License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Latest version: v0.2.0/STANDARD.md Machine-readable: v0.2.0/standards.json

Why this exists

Existing K–12 standards do an excellent job describing content knowledge (CCSS, NGSS) and digital practice (ISTE). They do less well describing the cross-cutting practices of making (originating something for an audience and purpose) and building (constructing structures and systems that hold up under use).

These practices appear in every domain — a poem, a robot, a science fair display, a Minecraft world, a community garden, a research paper. They are how learners convert understanding into artifacts the world can use. OMBS makes them assessable without flattening them into rubrics that miss what matters.

What's in scope

• A conceptual model with two domains (Making, Building) sharing a five-practice spine
• Anchor competencies and grade-band progressions (K–2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–12)
• NGSS-style performance evidence descriptors
• Machine-readable codes for use by curriculum, assessment, and AI tools
• Crosswalks to NGSS Engineering Design, ISTE 2024, P21 4Cs, CCSS Writing, Agency by Design

What's out of scope

• Subject-area content knowledge (use CCSS, NGSS, state standards)
• Social-emotional learning competencies (use CASEL)
• AI literacy (use UNESCO AI Literacy Framework)
• Career and technical credentials (use ASCA, industry frameworks)

How to use

• Educators: see STANDARD.md §7 (Progressions) and §8 (Evidence Descriptors).
• Curriculum designers: map units to OMBS codes; use crosswalks.json to align with adopted standards.
• AI / ed-tech tools: ingest standards.json; cite codes in tags and recommendations.
• Researchers: the standard is versioned; cite as OMBS v0.2.0 (2026).

Governance

This is a draft standard intended for community review and revision. See GOVERNANCE.md for how decisions are made and CONTRIBUTING.md for how to propose changes.

Versioning

Semantic versioning. Breaking changes (rename/remove codes, change ID format) require a major version bump and a one-version deprecation window. Additive changes (new dimensions, new evidence descriptors) bump the minor version. Editorial changes (clarifications, typos, crosswalks) bump the patch version.

Citation

Open Making and Building Standard (OMBS), v0.2.0. 2026. CC BY-SA 4.0.