[Bridging_the_digital_divide] Textbook vs digital adoption article

[bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net]

SIIA: Revise archaic textbook adoptions
By Cara Branigan, Associate Editor, eSchool News
December 2, 2004

Calling "archaic" those textbook adoption policies that preclude 
schools and districts from spending state funds on digital-only 
resources, the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is 
urging state officials to get up to date.

 From content revisions to pricing structure and distribution, state 
rules governing approved textbooks often conflict with the very nature 
of continuously updated, subscription-based, online curriculum 
materials, SIIA pointed out.

While textbook adoption policies have posed a barrier for some time, 
SIIA believes now is an opportune time to raise awareness of the issue.

"The environment is shifting, and we would like state adoption 
standards to change so schools can at least have the option of using 
digital media," said Mark Schneiderman, SIIA's director of education 
policy.

"We are looking for states to update their textbook review processes so 
that schools that want to use software-based textbooks as the core 
material can do so," he said. "It's about giving them choice."

Some 22 states reportedly have textbook adoption systems in place. Of 
these, only about 12 are in various stages of revising their policies 
to accommodate the unique characteristics of digital-only resources, 
said Mark Tullis, vice president of business development for 
Learning.com, a company that provides a complete online technology 
education curriculum called Easy Tech.

Easy Tech was one of the first digital-only curricula approved by a 
handful of states, including Texas, Florida, Idaho, Oklahoma, Utah, and 
Mississippi. "We've been through 12 textbooks adoptions so far," Tullis 
said.

The standard approval process for textbooks is lengthy--typically a 
state-convened committee reviews hundreds of books for one subject per 
year. Approved textbooks for each subject remain in use for about six 
years, and then the approval process repeats.

Many electronic curriculum publishers have steered clear of textbook 
adoption procedures, but "the advantage of going through state adoption 
procedures is to qualify for full funding" from state textbook monies, 
Tullis said.

In states with textbook adoption policies, schools and districts that 
buy approved textbooks get full state funding for those items--but they 
typically receive only from 30 to 50 percent of the cost of unapproved 
curricula, he said.

Tight education budgets make full state funding an attractive goal for 
both schools and digital content providers, but with the way textbook 
adoption guidelines are currently written, getting digital-only 
resources approved is a challenge.

SIIA outlines these difficulties in detail in a policy brief called 
"State Instructional Materials Review and Adoption Reform: Rules and 
Processes to Support Electronic Learning Resources." The brief was 
released in October to schools, states, policy makers, and SIIA 
members.

A common problem, for example, is that some state laws require 
textbooks to be purchased and distributed from a textbook depository, a 
physical building that houses a state's textbooks. "That process 
doesn't make sense for digital content," Schneiderman said. "How do you 
distribute online content though a textbook depository?"

When Mississippi approved Learning.com's Easy Tech as its core 
curriculum resource for technology education, officials had to do some 
fancy maneuvering to abide by the state's rules for distributing 
materials through the state depository.

The state now keeps one set of logins--and where possible, a copy of 
each software title--in the depository, and its schools and districts 
must purchase their software and receive their logins and passwords 
through the state depository.

"We tried to take the path of least resistance to get to the end 
result. We negotiated with our state depository, and they were very 
good about it," said Kameron Ball, director of federal programs for the 
Rankin County School District in Brandon, Miss., and formerly the 
educational technology director for the Mississippi Department of 
Education.

In Florida, Learning.com became an approved depository so it could 
distribute its curriculum there. "We did it that way because we could 
not reach an agreement with the Florida depository," said Ileana Rowe, 
vice president of marketing for Learning.com. "It was less expensive 
for us to set up our own depository and accept orders online."

State policies that specify what paper weight and type of binding 
approved textbooks and curriculum resources must have also restrict 
digital-only materials from getting approved.

Pricing and payment guidelines have become obstacles as well. For 
instance, some guidelines prescribe a one-time cost, whereas many 
digital resources charge an annual subscription fee, Schneiderman said.

Mississippi's bonding requirement also made approval difficult to 
overcome. Publishers are required to take out a state bond as a way to 
guarantee the delivery of materials, but the bonding companies were not 
used to working with a technology company, Tullis said.

Another problem is that the committees of experts who review textbooks 
often have little or no background in educational technology.

SIIA members who have tracked how long reviewers spent accessing their 
products report that in many instances, reviewers never logged in--or 
they spent 20 minutes or less reviewing the product, Schneiderman said.



States should establish processes and provide training, he said, for 
how reviewers should evaluate digital curriculum resources to determine 
if they meet state standards.

Ball said it was a frustrating and lengthy process when Mississippi 
adopted its first digital-only textbook. "Going through that process 
really opened my eyes to how important it is to keep the policy that 
directs what material children use up to date," she said.

Besides ensuring that reviewers have computer access to evaluate 
electronic resources, Mississippi also reworded its guidelines for 
textbook vendors and reviewers to make sure these didn't exclude 
anyone.

For example, the state changed how textbook publishers must get 
approval to update their content and how they identify first-edition 
textbooks. Mississippi required that a hole be drilled through 
first-edition textbooks so teachers could easily identify them. "You 
can't drill a hole through a computer, so we had to make some changes 
there," Ball said.

Some policy makers who are focused on getting enough computers into 
classrooms might be reluctant to change policies concerning textbooks. 
But "we can't continue to wait for the infrastructure to be there to 
give kids the resources they need to learn," Ball said.

Gloria Bush is the coordinator of instructional technology for the 
Mobile County School District in Alabama, which was one of the first 
states to adopt an online textbook.

"I think it makes wonderful sense for our children," she said of SIIA's 
initiative. "We want to provide the most up-to-date information and 
reach all different learning types."

Action needs to come soon, she added: "It's just crucial. We can't wait 
six or seven years for new materials to be issued."

Links:

"State Instructional Materials Review and Adoption Reform: Rules and 
Processes to Support Electronic Learning Resources"
http://www.siia.net/govt/docs/pub/SIIAAdoptionLtrBrf.pdf

Learning.com Florida State Depository
http://depository.learning.com/FL

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5406
---

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President
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