The State Board of Education on September 12, 2005, adopted new textbooks, other instructional materials, and learning technologies for grades K-12, covering curriculum areas of reading, handwriting, spelling, language, grammar, composition, literature, oral communication and dictionaries. These new state adopted lists will be accessible via the Internet. The lists can be located by going to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) web page http://arkedu.state.ar.us/instructional_material/material.html. State contracts for these materials will be effective July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2012. Classroom implementation will be for school year 2006-2007.
The instructional materials on these lists were extensively reviewed, evaluated and recommended by state selecting committees. The committees were composed of grade/subject area teachers and administrators in the aforementioned curriculum areas from across the state. The main criterion for review was correlation of the materials to the state curriculum frameworks.
The adoption process now moves from state to local district. Local selecting committees should now be formed consisting of certified personnel with a majority of classroom teachers. Local committees will be guided by the local district’s curriculum development in selecting textbooks and other materials that best meet the local district’s curriculum needs.
Copies of the new lists of state-adopted materials may be obtained from the web page to update the binders kept at each building level. It is important that all personnel have access to the state-adopted lists. The present lists for the newly adopted curriculum areas remain current until June 30, 2006, when the present state contracts expire. The new lists are useful, at this time, as working copies during the adoption process.
Examination copies (samples) of the state-adopted materials will begin arriving at local schools. The samples received during the adoption process are on loan to the school systems. After adoptions are made, the samples must be returned to Educator’s Book Depository, 6700 Sloane Drive, Little Rock, Arkansas 72206. School systems may keep the samples of the textbooks or other materials adopted and purchased. Please exercise the following options when returning all others.
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). Be sure to label all boxes “Textbook Samples”.
There should be no charges to districts for returning samples, providing the above options are followed.
Forms for reporting adoptions are available at the instructional materials web site address previously given in this communication. Timely reporting of adoptions will provide the necessary lead-time for stocking the textbook depository and will help the depository to avoid delays and backorders in shipping textbook orders for the 2006-2007 school year. The depository will fill orders first from districts that have reports of adoptions on file.
Deadlines for receiving Reports of Adoptions are February 15, 2006, for grades K-8 and April 15, 2006, for grades 9-12. Districts with middle school configurations may choose the reporting schedule that best meets the school’s needs in securing vertical articulation with local district curriculum development.
Although adoption decisions by administrators and teachers are not made on the basis of complimentary materials, offering complimentary materials as an incentive to secure adoptions remains a popular marketing strategy with publishers. To insure that all schools receive the same benefits, regardless of size or location, publishers are required to state upfront, by filing with the bid and contract, a list of complimentary materials and/or services which will be given to any local adopting unit. The complimentary materials list once filed is final. It cannot be altered and must be adhered to precisely during the contract period. No additional offers may be made to any district, individual school or individual. A deviation from these stipulations by publisher’s representative or agent can result in severe penalties for the publisher. Additional offers, if made, should be discouraged, never solicited, and should be reported. Monitoring is important, although complimentary materials may seem free, the cost to publishers in providing them may be a factor in the escalating cost of textbooks. Copies of the official complimentary lists filed with the state contracts are kept on file at the Curriculum, Assessment and Research office.
When local selections have been made, fax or mail adoption reports, found on the website http://arkedu.state.ar.us/instructional_material/material.html, to the Curriculum, Assessment and Research office to the attention of:
Ms. Sue McKenzie
Arkansas Department of Education
Curriculum, Assessment and Research
#4 State Capitol Mall
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
FAX – 501-682-4886