On September 8, 2008, the State Board of Education adopted new textbooks, other instructional materials, and learning technologies for grades K-12, for curriculum areas of foreign language, English as a Second Language (ESL), English Language Learners (ELL), and business education. These new state-adopted lists will be accessible via the Internet. The lists can be located by going to the Arkansas Department of Education Web page at http://arkansased.org/teachers/instructional_material.html. State contracts for the materials will be effective July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2015. Classroom implementation will be for school year 2009-2010.
The instructional materials on the lists were extensively reviewed, evaluated, and recommended by state selection 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 selection committees consisting of certified personnel with a majority of classroom teachers should now be formed. 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.
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.
If a depository shipment weighs over 100 pounds, ship “Freight Collect” (trucking-motor freight company). Be sure to label all boxes “Official Samples.”
There should be no charges to districts for returning samples, providing the above options are followed. Any charges inadvertently paid by districts may be recovered from publishers through the textbook depository.
Forms for reporting adoptions are available at the instructional materials Web site address previously given in this communication. The deadline for filing Reports of Adoptions is February 15, 2009. The textbook depository is stocked based on the reports of local adoptions received. Timely reporting of adoptions will provide the necessary lead-time for stocking the textbook depository. It will enable the depository to avoid delays and backorders in shipping textbook orders for the 2009-2010 school year. The depository will fill orders first from districts that have reports of adoptions on file, so please file Report of Local Adoptions as soon as possible but, no later than February 15, 2009.
Please fax or mail adoption reports to the following:
Sue McKenzie
Arkansas Department of Education
Curriculum, Assessment & Research
Textbooks/Instructional Materials
Four Capitol Mall, Room 104-A
Little Rock, AR 72201
FAX 501-682-4886