The State Board of Education, on September 10, 2001, adopted new social studies and driver education textbooks and other instructional materials for grades K-12. Lists of these new state-adopted materials will be made accessible via the Internet. They can be located by accessing the Arkansas Web Page, clicking on Administrators and then on instructional materials in the scroll down box. With these entries three curriculum areas (science, social studies, and driver education) will be accessible on the web. One print copy of the new adopted materials will be delivered to you in the next bulk mailing.
State contracts for these materials will be effective July 1, 2002, through
June 30, 2008. Classroom implementation will be for school year 2002-2003.
State committees of subject area teachers and administrators extensively evaluated and favorably recommended the instructional materials to the Board for adoption. Their main criteria were how well the materials correlated with the state curriculum frameworks.
It is time now to begin the local adoption process for new social studies and driver education materials. Local adoption committees should be appointed. The composition of the committees should be of certified personnel, the majority being subject and grade level teachers of social studies and driver education. Local committees will be guided by their local district's curriculum development, choosing textbooks and other materials that best meet their district's curriculum needs.
Some confusion, however, has surfaced regarding local adoption of social studies materials.
Sales representatives of publishing companies with K-8 social studies materials on the new state adopted list are contacting some schools claiming that the materials just adopted are not their company's newest copyrighted programs. Please know the materials that were adopted by the Arkansas Board of Education are the programs that were submitted by the publishers when bids were called. One program carries a 2000 copyright and one a 2001 copyright The state committee of social studies teachers found both programs to correlate well with the state framework.
There is a substitution policy in place for publishers. A publisher may opt to offer for substitution a new copyright or a newer edition of a program presently under adoption, if they can guarantee that the program and its ancillary materials will be completed in time for purchase and delivery.
Options that you have concerning your local selection of new social studies materials are as follows:
1. Proceed with adoption consideration of presently adopted materials and report your adoption (knowing that your adoption report can be changed should unknown situations arise such as substitutions of present programs or better materials being found on the market).
2. Put off adoption consideration until spring (keeping in mind however that adoption reports need to be received by May 1, 2002, in order to have sufficient time to stock the text book depository).
3. Select non state-adopted materials from other publishers and purchase locally or make off-list requests to the Department of Education.
3. Keep program you are now using (not a good option because present contracts will expire June 30, 2002, and replacement would become a problem).
4. Put off adoption for a year.
The main purpose of the adoption is to select materials that best support the local curriculum and best meet the needs of your students.
School districts are encouraged to purchase a major social studies tool of instruction for every child and to make these purchases within the first two years of adoption.
The Department of Education no longer sponsors a textbook caravan. There is a caravan, but it is conducted by textbook sales representatives. The sales representatives group determines all decisions such as time, place and locations for the caravan. There are no assurances from ADE as to the amount of in-service versus sales that it may provide. ADE sends out a caravan schedule as a courtesy only.
The lists of state-adopted materials to be received in the bulk mailing should be incorporated into the Textbooks and Other Instructional Materials, Grades K-8 and 9-12 binders being kept in the District. Additional copies of the social studies and driver education lists can be secured from the web page to update the binders at each building level. It is important that all personnel have access to the state-adopted list. The social studies and driver education listings now in the binders at your schools are current until June 30, 2002, when the present state contracts for social studies and driver education expire. The new lists are useful, at this time, as working copies during the adoption process.
Publishers will be requested to send examination copies of the materials adopted by the Board on September 10th to your district. Materials received for examination during the adoption process are on loan to the school systems. After adoptions are made, they must be returned to Educator's Textbook Depository, 6700 Sloane Drive, Little Rock, AR 72206. School systems may keep the samples of the textbooks or other materials they adopt and purchase. Please exercise one of the following options when returning the samples:
For shipments weighing 100 pounds or less, send parcel post "fourth class."
Package no more than 50 pounds per carton. Do not send C.O.D.
Ship "freight collect" (trucking-motor freight company), if a depository
shipment weighs more than 100 pounds. There is minimum charge of $20.00
when returning by freight. Be sure to label all boxes "Textbook Samples."
Forms for reporting adoptions will be included with the state adopted lists in the next bulk mailing. They will also be available on the web. Adoption reports should be forwarded to the Department of Education as soon as selections are made. Timely reporting of adoptions will provide the necessary lead time for stocking the textbook depository. It will help to avoid backorders and delays in shipping as you place your textbook orders for 2002-2003 school year. All K-8 adoption reports are needed by February 1, 2002, and the 9-12 adoption reports by April 15, 2002.