Rachel Brown
Parents who want a say in their child’s textbooks can view proposed materials for English, language arts, foreign languages and English for speakers of other languages in the cafeteria at Murray County High School through July 16.
The textbooks are for consideration for the 2010-2011 school year. The site serves all of the counties in the Ninth Congressional District, including Whitfield.
The informal setting allows residents to browse the books and fill out an anonymous survey giving feedback on the materials. There are materials from 42 publishers for grades K-12.
“It empowers the population,” said site manager David Lozano, an ESOL teacher at Murray High. “Anybody can come in. I cannot stress that enough.”
Once the evaluation period ends, Lozano and site managers for the 12 other districts will submit their personal evaluations of every material on display to the state Board of Education. They’ll also present their findings from the surveys and public input they receive, he said. The Board of Education will then recommend materials school systems can use.
“At the same time,” Lozano said, “(local districts) are free to say, ‘Nah, we’ll pick out our own.’”
Amy Haynes, a school improvement coordinator for Whitfield County Schools, said the school system usually selects from the pool of materials the state Department of Education recommends. Local textbook adoption procedures have changed over the past couple of years to allow more flexibility for individual schools. Central office employees used to lead the decision-making process, she said.
Now, a school like Antioch Elementary with a large number of students whose native language is not English have the flexibility to choose materials that work well for them. A school like Cohutta Elementary, where almost all students speak English as their first language, can adopt different materials if they like.
“At this point, the philosophy is that the school knows their students best,” Haynes said.
Rhonda Hayes, curriculum director for Dalton Public Schools, said that school system’s textbook selection process is an 18-month cycle that allows time for staff input and review and a pilot phase in which a few classes test out the new materials.
Educators consider readability — some contain vocabulary that is far above grade level — teacher usefulness, how easy the materials are to navigate, and the availability of online and supplemental materials. They choose from the pool the state Department of Education has approved through review periods like the one ongoing in Murray County, Hayes said.
Barbie Kendrick, director of elementary curriculum for Murray County Schools, said local systems further break down the selection process by displaying possible materials at local schools before the books are adopted. There are no major textbooks or materials adoptions planned for this year, she said. Materials that are chosen are the same across all the schools in the district for the same grade level.
Educators’ top priority in choosing materials is ensuring they convey the state-mandated concepts for each grade, Kendrick said.
“We do look at what kind of research they have backing up strategies that are in their books,” she added.
The evaluation site opened Monday.
Textbook evaluations
Where: Murray County High School cafeteria (entrance is on the left side of the building)
When: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., through July 16
What: Textbooks and materials from 42 publishers available for review
Survey: Anyone can complete an anonymous survey on a material’s strengths and weaknesses.
